The Pune police have been left red-faced after the Supreme Court swiped left on the capture of five activists from across the country in connection with the Elgaar Parishad and Bhima-Koregaon case. The three arrested social crusaders who were produced in a Pune court will be sent back home today and placed under house arrest till September 6, when the state will have to respond to SC's concerns about dissent being quelled.

In a major embarrassment for the Pune police, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Varavara Rao — who were presented in the Pune sessions court yesterday — will be sent back home today and be placed under house arrest. This is just two days after the Pune police detained them and two others in a mammoth operation across the country on Tuesday. The other two activists are Gautam Navlakha and Sudha Bharadwaj were not brought to Pune as they had moved local courts in Delhi and Chandigarh following their detention.