The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that activist Gautam Navlakha cannot escape the liability of paying the expenses incurred by the Maharashtra government on providing security during his house arrest.
A bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice S V N. Bhatti said, “If you (Gautam Navlakha) have asked for it (house arrest), you have to pay (the expenses on security). You cannot escape your liability.”
The bench said this after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that Navlakha owed the agency about Rs 1.64 crore.
Stating his willingness to pay for the cost of security deployed at the place of his house arrest, advocate appearing for Navlakha disputed the amount being claimed by the investigating agency.
Appearing for the NIA, the Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju said, “Every time they say this. I want to see the currency paper, not your file.”
ASG Raju said that Rs 1.64 crore is due and Navlakha has to make the payment for a large number of police personnel that have been deployed round-the-clock for his security during house arrest.
Navlakha is under house arrest in Mumbai since November 2022.
On November 10, 2022, the top court by an interim order had permitted Navlakha to be placed under house arrest considering his health condition and old age.
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, located in Navi Mumbai.
Navlakha is among the 16 alleged Maoist activists against whom the NIA filed a charge-sheet on October 9, 2020. 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.
Anand Teltumbde, a professor was one of the conveners of the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan and he was present at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, 31.12.2017 where the Elgar Parishad programme was organised.