Bombay High Court dismisses plea of Varavara Rao and 2 other accused seeking default bail in Elgar case

Mumbai, May 4

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Varavara Rao and two other activists, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, seeking a review of an earlier order of the high court which refused them default bail.

The high court said it finds it difficult to hold there was any factual error in its earlier judgement and requires a review.

“No case for review is made out,” a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar said.

The high court rejected the petition filed by the three accused: Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves.

Rao is currently out on medical bail, while the other two petitioners are in jail.

The three accused had challenged a December 1, 2021 order passed by the bench led by Justice Shinde that granted default bail to lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, a co-accused in the case, but denied default bail to eight other accused persons, including the three petitioners.

In their pleas, the accused said the high court’s order was based on a “factual error”. If the high court, in granting bail to Bharadwaj, set aside the lower court order of November 6, 2019, the others, too, were entitled to relief.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had opposed the plea on the ground that the accused were seeking the same prayer of default bail under the guise of review, and that it was an abuse of the process of law and sets a wrong precedent.

The case, now being handled by the NIA, pertains to the ‘Elgar Parishad’ conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to Pune police was funded by Maoists.