Elgar Parishad case: NIA opposes Mahesh Raut’s bail plea in HC, claims he acted against interest of state

MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), while opposing the appeal of Elgar Parishad accused Mahesh Raut in the Bombay high court, said he was instrumental in recruiting people for the banned CPI (Maoist) and involved in anti-national activities.

The agency has sought further time to file compilation of documents, which was permitted by the HC, which posted the hearing to July 12.

The NIA submitted an affidavit to the division bench of justice AS Gadkari and justice SG Dige, which was hearing Raut’s appeal through advocate Vijay Hiremath. Raut claimed that the special NIA court had erred and rejected his bail applications earlier, hence he should be granted bail.

The NIA affidavit filed through advocate Sandesh Patil said that there was sufficient evidence to show Raut’s involvement in offences punishable under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The NIA stated that Raut and other accused had received ₹5 lakh from CPI (Maoist) and had participated in various panchayat meetings in Gadchiroli as well.

The NIA said that the “accused has a direct impact on the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India. Needless to revisit the history even to date the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency has been plaguing in this country that caused immense destruction and very significantly took many lives of police, security personnel, etc, which is principally spearheaded by the CPI (Maoist)”. In light of this, the agency claimed that the grounds of Raut’s appeal for bail were false and misleading and hence should be rejected.

“The accused is one of those members, who is part of giving mileage to such subversive activities against this country. As such, it is not justifiable for an accused of such offence to seek relief on constitutional grounds when his acts are itself against the interest of state and society,” the affidavit claimed.

The Central agency also referred to a letter recovered from the computer of another accused wherein Raut’s name has been mentioned with regards to sending recruits to Gadchiroli.