NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday pulled up National Investigating Agency (NIA) for hurriedly transferring Gautam Navlakha to Mumbai while his plea for interim bail in the Bhima Koregaon case was still pending before it.
Justice Anup J Bhambani who was hearing the interim bail plea of Navlakha in his order said, “While ordinarily this court would not see too much cause for hurry in this case, in view of the inexplicable, frantic hurry shown by the NIA in moving the applicant from Delhi to Mumbai while this matter was pending and the National Investigating Agency had itself sought time to file status report, this Court does get a sense that all proceedings in this jurisdiction would be rendered utterly infructuous if an element of urgency is not brought to bear on the present proceedings.”
When the matter was taken up yesterday, counsel for Navlakha stated that although Navlakha’s judicial custody was extended by a Delhi Court till June 22, on May 24, which was a Sunday, an application was moved by the National Investigating Agency before a Mumbai Court seeking a production warrant in Navlakha’s name.
However, counsel for Navlakha argued that the only purpose for which the NIA acted in such a haste was to render the present proceedings infructuous.
Explaining the urgency, National Investigating Agency submitted that agency had moved an application for issuance of production warrants on May 23 in view of the opening of inter-state travel and the uncertainity of the future course of events in relation to the lockdown.
The court directed National Investigating Agency to file an affidavit with this regard and also sought a copy of Navlakha’s last medical status report in the national capital and Mumbai and slated the hearing for June 3.