The Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to Prof. Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case of 2018.
A bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Milind Jadhav however stayed its order for a week to enable the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file appeal before the Supreme Court.
The court observed several offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) were not made out and granted bail on a bond of ₹1 lakh and two sureties.
Mr. Teltumbde had surrendered before the NIA office in Mumbai on April 14, 2020 after the Supreme Court denied him any relief. He was initially taken into NIA custody and is now lodged at the Taloja Central jail.
He has been the managing director and CEO of Petronet India Limited, an Indian Institute of Management graduate who taught at the Indian Institute of Technology. He has been booked in the Elgar Parishad case for his alleged links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoists). He has been charged with several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA.
Dr. Teltumbde and 15 others were booked by Pune police where an offence was registered on January 8, 2018, alleging that they were spreading hatred through provocative songs, plays and speeches at Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, which led to violence following the incident at Bhima-Koregaon.
