Activist Navlakha walks out of prison

Mumbai, November 19

Gautam Navlakha, an accused in Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case, was released from prison on Saturday evening and taken to a building in Navi Mumbai where he will be living under house arrest for a month.

His release from Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai after more than two years came nine days after the Supreme Court earlier this month granted his plea seeking house arrest on medical grounds.

Navlakha (70) walked out of prison around 6 pm. A police team took him to a building in Belapur-Agroli area of Navi Mumbai where he would be staying. Earlier in the day, NIA special court Judge Rajesh Katariya issued his `release memo’.

The ground-plus-two Comrade BT Randive Building belongs to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and houses a public library on the ground floor. The activist who claims to be suffering from multiple ailments was in jail since April 2020 after his arrest in the 2017-18 case.

On November 10, the Supreme Court, in response to his application, directed that he be put under house arrest for a month with certain conditions. The order should be implemented within 48 hours, the court had said. But the NIA moved the apex court again contending that Navlakha, being a charge-sheeted accused in a case involving threat to the national security and integrity, did not deserve any relaxation.

On Friday afternoon, the SC maintained its November 10 order and said he must be put under house arrest within 24 hours.