On bail plea of DU prof Hany Babu, SC notice to NIA, Maharashtra govt

New Delhi: In response to a plea by Hany Babu, an associate professor at Delhi University and one of the defendants in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, against a Bombay High Court ruling that denied his bail request, the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Maharashtra government and the NIA.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the state government were notified by a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol, who asked for a response from both agencies 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, PTI reported.

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.