In a big relief to the Bhima Koregaon case accused, Gautam Navlakha, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted him bail, lifting its stay on the December 2023 Bombay High Court order that had granted bail to the activist.

A bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice S V N Bhatti lifted the stay on the Bombay High Court order that had granted bail to Navlakha, noting that he has already undergone incarceration for four years and the charges in the case have not been framed and it would take years for the trial to conclude.

Refusing to extend its interim order, putting on hold the high court order granting Navlakha bail, the bench in its order said, “Prima facie we are of the view that there is no need for extending the interim order of stay. The appellant (Navlakha) has been in incarceration for more than four years and charges are yet to be framed… the trial would take years and years and years for its completion. Thus, without going at the length into contentions, we are not inclined to extend the stay.”

However, the court said the release of Navlakha on bail would be subject to the payment of Rs 20 Lakh that the investigating agency incurred on providing security and other paraphernalia during Navlakha’s house arrest a B T Ranadeva Public Library in Mumbai.

The top court had, on November 10, 2022, ordered the shifting of Gautam Navlakha from Navi Mumbai’s Taloja Jail to the B T Ranadeva Public Library. Navlakha was ordered to bear the expenses that would be incurred by the NIA for posting security personnel and the CCTV cameras to guard him and monitor him during his stay at the library.

The apex court’s order came while hearing an appeal by the National Investigation Agency against the Bombay High Court’s December 2023 order granting bail to Navlakha.

On November 10, 2022, the top court allowed Navlakha, who was then lodged in Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison in connection with the case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his deteriorating health. Navlakha, arrested in August 2018, had moved the top court requesting that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in Taloja jail, Maharashtra.

Navlakha is among 16 alleged Maoist activists against whom the NIA filed a charge sheet on October 9, 2020. The others are Mumbai’s Anand Teltumbde, Hany Babu, an associate professor of Delhi, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor of Pune, Jyoti Jagtap of Kondhawa, Milind Teltumbde of Yavatmal and Stan Swamy of Ranchi. The 80-year-old priest Swamy was nabbed from his home in Ranchi only two days ago before filing the charge sheet.