Following the nationwide raids and arrests on Tuesday of five persons — Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj and Telugu poet Varavara Rao for alleged links to the Communist Party of India – Maoist— police sources said their names had came up during the investigations of five activists arrested earlier this year in connection with the Elgar Parishad and Bhima-Koregaon violence case.
On June 7, the Pune police had arrested human rights activist Rona Wilson, lawyer Surendra Gadling, activist Mahesh Raut, Nagpur University professor Soma Sen and Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, claiming that the ‘provocative speeches’ made during the Elgar Parishad (convention) on December 31 last year had led to the Bhima-Koregaon violence on January 1 this year.
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Following a habeas corpus plea against his arrest, Mr. Navlakha got a temporary reprieve as the Delhi High Court ordered the Pune police not to take him out of the national capital at least until Wednesday.
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While lawyer and trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj was also granted relief by the Punjab and Haryana High Court which stayed her transit remand to Pune for three days, she was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad, Ashok Kumar, who granted her transit remand to the Maharashtra Police, saying he had not received the High Court order.
Ms. Bhardwaj was then whisked away by the Pune police.
Ms. Bharadwaj had argued in the court of Judge Sakshi Saini and she had no connection to the Elgaar Parishad case and her name did not find mention in the FIR.