MUMBAI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday told a special court in Mumbai that it did not confiscate human rights activist Stan Swamy’s straw and sipper when he was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case last month.
On November 6, the 83-year-old Jesuit priest had filed an application before the special court seeking permission to use a straw and sipper in Taloja Central Jail as he cannot hold a glass due to Parkinson’s disease.
The prosecution, which had sought 20 days to file a reply to this application, claimed it had not seized either a straw or a sipper from him.
“Actually, Stan Swamy’s lawyers never applied for a straw and sipper,” said Special Public Prosecutor Prakash Shetty. “They claimed that while arresting him, we had recovered the straw and sipper from him. We simply said that we have recovered no such articles from him,” said the prosecutor.
Special NIA Judge DE Kothalikar rejected Swamy’s application after Shetty’s response. A new petition seeking a straw, sipper and winter clothes was filed. The court directed the medical officer of the jail to respond to this and the matter will be next heard on December 4.
Swamy’s medical plea had stated that he has almost lost his hearing ability in both ears, fallen in jail multiple times, been operated on for a hernia twice and still has pain in his lower abdomen.
Swamy was arrested by the NIA in Ranchi on October 8 and brought to Mumbai the next day. It was alleged that Swamy is a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and was involved in a conspiracy to instigate caste violence in Bhima Koregaon village near Pune in 2018. He has been in judicial custody since October 9.