The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday opposed the default bail application of Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, and told the Bombay high court that he had not only gathered information to make bombs but also garnered international support for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The probe agency informed a division bench of justice Nitin Jamdar and justice N R Borkar that the Delhi University associate professor was a senior member of the CPI (Maoist) and had played a vital role in planning anti-national activities.
Babu had approached the HC challenging the rejection of his bail plea by the special NIA court. His counsel, advocate Yug Choudhary, claimed that his bail application was filed in the lower court along with that of another accused Sudha Bhardawaj, but it was not taken into consideration. He was entitled to the relief granted to Bharadwaj by the HC, Babu’s plea said.
The NIA referred to the material seized from Babu’s laptop as well as that of another accused Arun Ferreira.
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh read out the contents of the letters written by Ferreira to other members of the outfit, including Babu, wherein references were made to the activities to be undertaken both at the national and international level. As per the letters, Babu was to undertake the responsibility of coordinating with their supporters in foreign countries like Nepal.
The NIA also referred to the letter written by Telugu poet Varavara Rao, another accused in the case, to the members, including Babu, wherein he stated that some big action needed to be taken during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections when big political leaders would be attending rallies. The letter also spoke about mounting attacks on the personnel who were clamping down on comrades in that state.
Singh claimed that Babu was part of such terror activities and also highlighted a letter written by him which was found in his laptop. In the letter, addressed to a wanted accused Rituparna Goswami, Babu had referred to RDX (explosive material used for making bombs) and also claimed to be the coordinator for RDX in Andhra Pradesh while discussing ways to secure the release of G N Saibaba, the NIA said. Saibaba is convicted of having Maoist links and currently serving his jail term.
The agency further said that there were other factors like transfer of funds to the account of Babu and the letters written by another accused Rona Wilson to Babu which were enough to prove his complicity in anti-national activities and hence, his application should be rejected.
Singh added that as per the chargesheet, there were 17 points which highlighted the associate professor’s role in the case, and justified the lower court’s rejection of his bail application.
After Choudhary submitted that he wanted to respond to the submissions of the NIA, the bench adjourned the hearing to Monday.