Guwahati: Activist Gautam Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was released on Saturday from Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai and will live under house arrest for a month, ND TV reported.
The 70-year-old activist was released in line with the Supreme Court order for his house arrest.
“He was immediately taken to a building in Navi Mumbai’s Belapur-Agroli area by a police team where he would be staying. Navlakha left the prison around 6 pm,” ET quoted a prison official as saying.
Navlakha has been in jail since April 2020 in a case related to violence at Koregaon-Bhima on January 1 — a day after alleged inflammatory speeches were delivered at an Elgar Parishad conclave.
On November 10, the Supreme Court had allowed Navlakha to be put under house arrest for a month with certain conditions and said its order should be implemented within 48 hours.
But the release was delayed, to which the top court reacted sharply on Friday, accusing the NIA of “delaying tactics”.
The NIA had moved the apex court earlier this week seeking vacation of its order for house arrest, saying Navlakha, being a charge-sheeted accused in a case involving threat to national security and integrity, does not deserve any extra leeway.
On Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court had rejected the NIA’s application opposing his house arrest.
It had ordered that Navlakha be placed under house arrest “without fail” within 24 hours.