Elgar case: SC notice to Maha, NIA on bail plea of DU professor Hany Babu

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Maharashtra government and the NIA on a plea by Delhi University's associate professor and Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case accused Hany Babu against an order of the Bombay High Court which rejected his bail plea.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol issued notice to the state government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed by Babu and sought their response within three weeks.

The high court on September 19, 2022 had rejected the bail plea filed by Babu.

The NIA, which is conducting a probe into the case, has accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in propagating Maoist activities and ideology on the instructions of leaders of the banned CPI (Maoist) organisation.

Babu was arrested in July 2020 in the case and is currently lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held in Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence.

The case, in which over a dozen activists and academicians had been named accused, was initially probed by the Pune Police and later taken over by the NIA. Babu approached the HC in June this year, challenging an order of the special NIA court here which rejected his bail plea earlier this year.

Babu in his plea had said the special court had "erred" in holding that there existed prima facie incriminating material against him.

The NIA had opposed the bail plea, arguing Babu actively participated in activities to promote Naxalism and wanted to overthrow the government.