Gautam Navlakha appears to have ISI links, says NIA court while denying him bail

Prima facie there was a nexus between human rights activist Gautam Navlakha an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai an agent of Pakistans spy agency ISI convicted in the United States for terror funding a special NIA court has said in its order denying bail to the campaignerLast month the Bombay High Court had quashed an earlier order passed by the special judge and directed him to rehear Navlakhas bail plea The HC had said the special courts order did not contain an analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecutionSpecial judge Rajesh Katariya presiding over the National Investigation Agency NIA court after hearing the submissions afresh denied bail to the 69yearold activist on April 6 A detailed order was made available on ThursdayNavlakha was arrested in August 2018 and initially placed under house arrest He was moved to the Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai in April 2020 after a Supreme Court orderHowever on November 10 last year the Supreme Court allowed his plea to be shifted back to house arrest for a month He is currently residing in the satellite city of Navi MumbaiThe NIA has claimed the human rights activist was an active member of the Communist Party of India Maoist a banned outfitThe antiterror agency in its chargesheet has alleged the applicant Navlakha had visited the USA three times to address conferences organised by the Kashmiri American Council KAC which is headed by Nabi FaiAlso readMumbai Police bans flying activities in city till May 15 check detailsThe activist was in touch with USbased Kashmiri separatist Nabi Fai via email and sometimes through phone according to the central agencyNabi Fai was arrested by Americas Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI in July 2011 for accepting funds from the InterServices Intelligence ISI and the Pakistan governmentNavlakha had written a letter the US court judge presiding over Nabi Fais case for clemency the central probe agency has allegedThe antiterror agency further claimed Navlakha was introduced to a Pakistani ISI General for his recruitment by Nabi Fai on directions of the ISI showing his nexus and complicity with the Kashmiri separatist and the spy agency of the neighbouring countryThe NIA court in its order noted that the prosecution had produced a copy of the document titled iquestSUPPLEMENTAL POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES WITH RESPECT TO SENTENCING FACTORS pertaining to a case United States of America versus Syed Ghulam Nabi FaiiquestIt document prima facie shows a nexus between applicant Navlakha and Syed Ghulam Nabi Faiiquest the special court observedThough there appears to be some deviating conduct on part of the applicant as pointed out by his lawyer from the report on Navlakha and other documents the same cannot grant any benefit to the applicant for bail the court observedThe special judge stated that the supplementary chargesheet and documents relied on by the prosecution iquestprima facie shows that the applicant is an active member of the said banned terrorist organization CPIMaoist and he carries out activities in furtherance of the object of said organizationiquestThe special court noted that documents produced along with the chargesheet iquestshow active involvement of the applicant Navlakha in crime and participation in conspiracy and also that iquesthe underwent weapons training with other accusediquestiquestConsidering totality of material role of the applicant cannot be segregated from role of the coaccused and there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the applicant are prima facie trueiquest it saidAmong other grounds for bail Navlakha had cited his old age various ailments and also pointed out that he has been in jail since the last 3 yearsHowever the special judge in his order said in view of the seriousness of allegations made against Navlakha iquestcollective interest of community would overweigh in the case and the grounds put forth would not go in the favour of the applicantThe case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the KoregaonBhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra cityThe Pune police which initially probed the case had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists Later the probe in the case in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused was transferred to the NIAThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever