The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday remanded Prof. Hany Babu, the 12th accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, in judicial custody till August 21.
Mr. Babu (54) is an associate professor at English Department, Delhi University, and was arrested by the central agency on July 28 in Mumbai.
Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty, representing NIA, submitted a report to special judge D.E. Kothalikar who said, “considering the reasons stated in the report it is necessary to remand the accused in judicial custody. Hence he is remanded in judicial custody till August 21.”
The NIA remand application submitted on July 29 had read, “Accused (Mr. Babu) has association/links with CPI (Maoist) party. During investigation, various letters were recovered from the seized electronic articles, wherein the role of accused transpired.”
The court had then said, “The investigating officer (IO) wants to confront with the various facts established from the other accused. Looking to the nature of the offence and allegations levelled against the accused, the demand for custody is well founded.”
Mr. Babu was summoned by NIA in Delhi on July 12 evening to appear before them on July 15 in Mumbai. He had faced a raid by the Maharashtra Police in September 2019 where electronic devices and books in his possession were confiscated by the police.
The agency took up the investigation from Pune Police on January 24, 2020 and then arrested Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha. Others accused in the case are Prof. Shoma Sen and Sudha Bharadwaj (lodged at Byculla jail) and Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonsalves, Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale (in Taloja Central jail) and Varavara Rao who is at present in Nanavati Hospital.
They have all been booked for allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches at the Elgaar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017 which triggered violence at Bhima-Koregaon war memorial the next day.
