Safety concerns at 'comrade-owned' place delay Navlakha's release

Activist Gautam Navlakha’s release from prison in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists case was delayed again on Wednesday as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raised “safety concerns” with regard to the place where he was planning to stay during his house arrest.

Veteran actor Suhasini Mulay has assured surety for Navlakha which the NIA court of judge Rajesh Katariya accepted.

“Since there is strong objection on the part of the prosecution (NIA) for keeping the accused in the premises on account of safety and security of the accused, it would not be proper to keep the accused in house arrest in the given premises,” the judge said in his order.

Navlakha, who has various health issues, has been put under house arrest as per an order of the Supreme Court, which also required him to produce a surety of Rs 2 lakh as a proof of solvency.

However, Navlakha’s lawyer said that the surety documents would take a minimum of six weeks to secure. Following this, the SC waived the condition.

Also read: Elgar case: Special NIA court refuses bail to activist Gautam Navlakha

But now, NIA has raised “safety concerns” regarding the place where Navlakha plans to stay in Navi Mumbai as there were no CCTV cameras at the three exit points of the place.

NIA also argued that the ground floor of the house was a public library which would make it difficult to monitor Navlakha’s activities. The agency also raised objections to the fact that the place was owned by “a secretary of Communist Party”.

Navlakha’s lawyer argued that CCTV cameras can be installed anywhere the NIA wants in the building. On the point regarding “a comrade” owning the building, he said: “The CPI(M) is a registered political party.”

The NIA court said a decision on Navlakha’s release will be taken after the Supreme Court’s order on a report submitted by the National Investigation Agency about its observations.