Teltumbde out of jail, says held in 'fake' case

Mumbai, November 26

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Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was on Saturday released from the Taloja central prison in Navi Mumbai a day after the Supreme Court rejected the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) plea challenging his bail.

Teltumbde, 73, who spent two-and-a-half years behind bars in the case, walked out of the jail around 1.15 pm. He was happy, he told waiting mediapersons. “I am happy after being released from prison after 31 months. It is obvious, but the sad thing is that this is the fakest case and it put us behind bars for years,” Teltumbde added.

On Friday, the apex court had dismissed the NIA’s plea challenging the Bombay High Court’s order giving bail to Teltumbde. He was released after the completion of bail formalities a day later.

On November 18, the high court had granted bail to Teltumbde, arrested by the central agency on April 14, 2020. The HC had observed that prima facie (on the face of it) there was no evidence showing his involvement in any terrorist acts. Teltumbde is third of the 16 accused arrested in the case to be released on bail. Poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail on health grounds while lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj is out on regular bail.