NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the NIA's appeal challenging a Bombay High Court order granting bail to human rights activist and journalist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, to May 7.
A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti, adjourned the hearing to May 7, as the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), was unavailable to argue in the matter before it.
In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had told Navlakha that you asked for house arrest and thereby you must pay for it and you could not escape the liability to pay security costs for the same. "If you asked for house arrest (and you are on house arrest now), you have to pay security costs," the Supreme Court had asked Navlakha.
The top court passed these remarks after hearing the NIA's appeal against the Bombay High Court's order that granted bail to Navlakha. It was also hearing Navlakha's plea for shifting his house arrest location in Mumbai.
Shadan Farasat, appearing for Navlakha, had expressed and assured the top court that he was ready and willing to pay it. However, he disputed the figures as submitted by the NIA.
"It is a huge amount," he had told the SC.
The Bombay High Court, in its order in December last year, granted bail to Navlakha but stayed its order for three weeks after the NIA sought time to file an appeal in the apex court. The stay was subsequently extended.
Navlakha had moved the top court, requesting that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in Taloja jail, Maharashtra. He was arrested by the NIA in August 2018 for his alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.