Social activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha surrendered before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, the deadline set up by the Supreme Court, in connection with the Elgar Parishad case. The court had earlier rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha in the Elgar Parishad case.

While Anand Teltumbde was produced before a special NIA court in Mumbai with the investigation agency getting his police remand for 5 days, Gautam Navlakha will be produced at an NIA special court in Patiala House in New Delhi on Wednesday amid the nationwide lockdown.

Anand Teltumbde, a professor with Goa Institute of Management, was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). While surrendering before the NIA in Mumbai he was accompanied by his brother-in-law Prakash Ambedkar, president of a political front Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and Maharashtra legislator Kapil Patil.

He is also the elder brother of absconding accused Milind Teltumbade, general secretary of banned Maoist organisation, Communist Party of India (Maoists).

Gautam Navlakha surrendered at the NIA Headquarters in New Delhi after the Supreme Court refused to extend his plea in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Gautam Navlakha, accused under the UAPA for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots in 2018, was asked to surrender by the Supreme Court.

A day before his surrender, Teltumbade had written a public letter saying he is innocent.

He stated, “This can happen literally to anyone. In the name of the ‘nation’, such draconian laws that denude innocent people of their liberties and all constitutional rights are constitutionally validated. As I see my India being ruined it is with a feeble hope that I write to you at such a grim moment. Well, I am off to NIA custody and do not know when I shall be able to talk to you again. However, I earnestly hope that you will speak out before your turn comes.”

The NIA has alleged that Anand Teltumbde had tried to arrange funds from foreign countries for the activities of CPI (Maoists).

Captain Smita Gaikwad, a researcher of Maoism in India, said the petition of Anand Teltumbde was rejected on the parameters of the law. “Those who are crying foul and trying to glorify him must understand that it is a myth that a highly educated intellectual person can’t be a Maoist,” she said.

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