SC extends stay imposed by Bombay HC on order granting bail to Navlakha

The Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay imposed by the Bombay High Court on the operation of its order granting bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and S V N Bhatti also directed the top court's Registry to place before Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) plea to decide on tagging the petition with cases of other accused.

The Supreme Court said it was not inclined to say anything on the merits of the case.

The Bombay High Court had on December 19 last year granted bail to Navlakha but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA sought time to file an appeal in the top court.

Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November last year permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest. He is currently residing in Navi Mumbai.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

As many as 16 activists have been arrested in the case and five of them are currently out on bail.