Elgar case: Vernon, Ferreira likely to walk out of jail next week

Activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, are likely to walk out of jail only next week after securing bail from the Supreme Court on Friday as certain formalities are to be completed before they are released, defence lawyers said in Mumbai.

An SC bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia granted bail to the duo, noting they have been in custody for five years.

The apex court, while giving relief, asked them not to leave Maharashtra and surrender their passports to the police.

It also directed the two activists to use one mobile each and let the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, know their addresses.

The accused, however, are likely to walk out of Navi Mumbai's Taloja jail, where they are currently lodged under judicial custody, some time next week as their bail formalities are yet to be completed before the trial court in the metropolis.

As per a lawyer related to the case, the bail order was yet to come from the Supreme Court, and after receiving the same, the special NIA judge in Mumbai presiding over the matter will set conditions for their release.

The activists had moved the SC against a Bombay High Court order rejecting their bail pleas.

Gonsalves and Ferreira were arrested in August 2018 for their alleged role in the case and have been in judicial custody since then.

As many as 16 persons, mostly activists and academicians, have been arrested in the case of which three are currently out on bail.

Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj are out on regular bail, while Telugu poet Varavara Rao (82) secured bail on health grounds.

Another accused, human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, is currently under house arrest as per direction of the Supreme Court.

The case pertains to the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to the Pune police, was funded by Maoists.

The inflammatory speeches made at the event led to violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial near Pune city the next day, police had alleged.

The case was later handed over to the NIA.