Anand Teltumbde

Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was on Saturday released from the Taloja central prison in Navi Mumbai a day after the Supreme Court rejected the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) plea challenging his bail. Teltumbde, 73, who spent two-and-a-half years behind bars in the case, walked out of the jail around 1.15 pm. He was happy, he told waiting media-persons. "I am happy after being released from prison after 31 months. It is obvious, but the sad thing is that this is the fakest case and it put us behind bars for years," Teltumbde added. On Friday, the apex court had dismissed the NIA's plea challenging the Bombay High Court's order giving bail to Teltumbde. He was released after the completion of bail formalities a day later. On November 18, the high court had granted bail to Teltumbde, arrested by the central agency on April 14, 2020. The HC had observed that prima facie (on the face of it) there was no evidence showing

The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday an appeal by the National Investigation Agency against the bail granted to scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, took note of the submissions by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the stay on the operation on the high court's bail order is for a week only and the matter needed urgent hearing. "We will hear it on Friday," the CJI told the law officer. The Bombay High Court had granted bail to Teltumbde last Friday in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, noting that there was no evidence to show that he was an active member of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist) or had indulged in any terrorist act. Teltumbde, 73, is the third accused of the total 16 arrested in the case to be released on bail. Poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail on health grounds, and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj is out on regular bail. The high court, however, had stayed its bail

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here has permitted activist Anand Teltumbde and five others, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, to have a telephonic conversation with family members for three minutes. The accused are currently in judicial custody and lodged at Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai. Their plea for making telephonic calls was allowed by special court judge Rajesh J Katariya on Friday. The details were made available on Saturday. The accused are permitted to have a telephonic conversation with their family members for three minutes keeping the speaker on in the presence of escorts, the court said. In a related development, two of the accused activists told the court on Friday that the prosecution had not supplied cloned copies of the electronic devices, seized from them, as directed earlier by the court. They submitted that the matter is being delayed as copies are not supplied to them. The special public prosecutor submitted that the procedur

This compilation of writings on India's prison ecosystem has many hits but some glaring misses

Anand Teltumbde has approached the Bombay High Court challenging the decision of a special court to give an extension of 90 days to the NIA to file its charge sheet against him

The agency told the court that it was yet to complete the investigation and hence his custody for seven more days was required. The court allowed its plea.

Mr Teltumbde says Dalits have fallen prey to ruling-class propaganda that the system may have operational defects but is essentially perfect since Ambedkar designed it

"I am an ideal subject to send a lesson that they can do anything to anybody," says Anand Teltumbde

Teltumbde is an accused in the case, which was filed following violent clashes at Koregaon-Bhima village near Pune on January 1, 2018