Elgar Parishad: accused activities were allowed 3min phone call

Mumbai: An NIA court allowed the Elgar Parishad case accused activist Anand Teltumbde and five others to have a telephone conversation with their families for three minutes. The accused are currently under judicial custody and housed at Navi Mumbai's Taloja Jail, PTI reported.

Judge Rajesh J Katariya allowed their phone calls, in the presence of an escort, on Friday and details were made available on Saturday.

Another development in the case on Friday was two of the accused told the court that the prosecution had not supplied cloned copies of the electronic devices seized from them, despite earlier orders by the court. They added that the matter is being delayed because of the copies not being supplied to them.

However, the special public prosecutor informed the court that cloning of the copies was going on.

The court said the prosecution should ensure the clone copies are supplied to the accused persons at the earliest. The concerned officer shall remain present before this court with information on how much time would be required for supplying the clone copies to all the accused, it said.

The court allowed to further medical treatment provided to the accused, Vernon Gonsalves, as per the medical advice from state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai and said that medical reports should be filed on record.

Vernon Gonsalves has been admitted to the hospital since September 8 and is being treated for dengue.

Meanwhile, another accused activist Sudhir Dhavale filed a plea before the court, naming the prison medical officer and the jail authorities, alleging that he was not provided with any medical attention. Another application demanded a contempt proceeding against prison authorities.

However, the court directed the prosecution to file its response to the pleas.

The Elgar case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave, held at 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 have been named accused, was initially probed by the Pune police before it was taken over by the NIA.