Special NIA Court Allows Prof Anand Teltumbde 5 Mins Telephone Call On Loudspeaker With Mother After Brother's Encounter Killing

In his plea to the Special NIA court, Teltumbde said his ninety-year-old mother is in a state of shock and bereavement after Milind's demise and therefore he may be permitted a telephone call.

Ever since physical mulaqaats have started, telephone calls are not allowed in prison.

"The Superintendent Taloja Central Prison shall allow accused No.10(Teltumbde) to make phone calls to his mother for 5 minutes by keeping the phone on speaker mode. The superintendent shall get it confirmed that the person speaking from the other side is mother of the accused only," Special Judge DE Kothalikar said in his order.

"Considering the fact that the mother of accused No.10 is 90 years old and the learned advocate for accused has submitted that only one opportunity to make phone call be given, in my view it would be just to consider the submission," the court added.

Milind, 58, accused of being in charge of CPI(M)'s Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone was also cited as an accused in the Bhima Koregaon Elgar Parishad Case.

Milind is Anand Teltumbde's younger brother. Anand said in his bail applications that he hasn't met Milind for the past 25 years.

Teltumbde was arrested by the NIA on April 14, last year, after he surrendered before the agency.

Meanwhile, Telugu poet Varavara Rao, the only accused in the case out on temporary bail, informed the court that he will be shifting to an Ashram in Bandra and therefore sought permission to record his attendance at the Bandra Police station.

Sources confirmed the octogenarian is unable to afford paying rent of his Malad apartment.

The court, however, asked his counsels to place on record a copy of the document showing that he will be shifting to the place situated within the jurisdiction of Bandra Police station.

On Tuesday, the Special Judge also reserved orders on the bail application of accused Mahesh Raut. Jyoti Jagtap's bail plea will be heard on November 23. 

The National Investigation Agency has booked fifteen activists under the UAPA and accused then furthering the banned CPI(Maoist) agenda to overthrow the government.

Background

The Bhima Koregaon battle was fought between 25,000 Peshwa army and 500 British soldiers including people from the Mahar (Dalit) community. The names of martyrs in the war are inscribed in a memorial by the British Army back then.

The hundreds of people visiting the war memorial at Bhima Koregaon were attacked on January 1, 2018, after violence erupted. They were mostly from Dalit community and one died in the stone-pelting.

An FIR was registered regarding the violence the same day. However, three years since no charge sheet has been filed in the case.

Another FIR by right wing activist Tushar Damgude, filed on January 8, 2018  was pursued. The houses of several activists, including Rona Wilson's and advocate Surendra Gadling were searched on April 17, 2018. It was alleged that the violence at Bhima Koregaon was a result of inflammatory speeches held at the Elgaar Parishad conference, on December 31, 2017.

The scope of the investigation was eventually widened, with the Pune police claiming retrieval of incriminating documents in the form of electronic records. This included an email written by a certain 'R' to Comrade Prakash on April 18, 2017 talking of a "Rajiv Gandhi-type" operation. The email was part of the documents investigated by Arsenal.

So far, 16 people have been arrested in the case as accused — Jyoti Raghoba Jagtap, Sagar Tatyaram Gorkhe, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu and late Father Stan Swamy.