Court grants interim bail to Elgar Parishad case accused to appear for law exam

Mumbai, Nov 20 (PTI) A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court has granted interim bail to Sagar Gorkhe, an accused in the Elgar-Parishad Maoist link case, to appear for his law degree exams.

Gorkhe, a member of the Kabir Kala Manch, an alleged frontal organisation of the banned outfit CPI (Maoist), was arrested in September 2020. He is currently lodged at Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.

Special judge Chakor Bhaviskar on Wednesday granted him temporary bail from November 20 to December 16 to appear for his law exams.

The NIA, represented by special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty, had opposed Gorkhe's plea on various grounds, including that the offences against him were serious, interim bail is for a very long period, and he may pose a risk of absconding.

The court, however, noted that it had previously permitted Gorkhe to appear for the CET-Law Entrance Exam on March 6, 2024, and granted him temporary bail to attend a subsequent law examination from December 14, 2024, to January 4, 2025.

The accused had not committed a breach of any of the conditions imposed on him in previous instances and had surrendered as directed, it said.

The court held that, considering the established pattern of granting permission to the same accused to appear for his law course examinations, the current application "deserves to be allowed".

Gorkhe and 14 other activists and academicians were booked in connection with allegedly provocative speeches that were delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The speeches triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima, on Pune city’s outskirts, the next day, according to police.

According to the Pune police, which initially probed the case, the conclave was backed by Maoists. The NIA later took over the probe into the case. PTI AVI ARU