Bhima Koregaon case: SC asks Gautam Navlakha to pay Rs 8 lakh as expenses for police protection while under house arrest

New Delhi [India], April 28 : The Supreme Court on Friday asked activist Gautam Navlakha, who is under house arrest in the Bhima Koregaon case, to deposit another Rs 8 lakh as an expense to make police personnel available for his security.

A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna asked the activist to deposit the amount after it was informed by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), that a total bill of Rs 66 lakh was pending.

On November 10, the apex court in an interim order permitted Navlakha to be placed under house arrest for a period of one month considering his health condition and old age. Later it extended his house arrest.

The top court had put a number of conditions, including a deposit of Rs 2.4 lakh as the expenses to be borne by the state for making available police personnel to effectively facilitate placing him under house arrest.

During the hearing, the apex court on Friday also directed Raju to file a reply within two weeks on Navlaka's plea seeking to be shifted from the public library in Mumbai, where he is under house arrest, to some other place in the city as the public library needed to be vacated.

ASG said he would take instructions on Navlakha's request to walk for 45 minutes.

Navlakha had moved the top court requesting that he be placed under house arrest instead of judicial custody in Maharashtra's Taloja Jail.

The apex court had imposed several conditions on Navlakha including he shall not use any mobile phone, laptop, communication device or gadget. He shall use the phone to be provided by police personnel on duty. He will be able to use his phone once a day for 10 minutes in the presence of the police.

NIA had vehemently opposed Navlakha's plea saying his condition has been improved and there was no need to put him under house arrest.

Earlier, the apex court had allowed the Superintendent of Taloja prison in Maharashtra to shift jailed activist Navlakha to Mumbai's Jaslok hospital for a medical checkup and treatment.

It had said that receiving medical treatment is a fundamental right of a prisoner.

70-year-old Navlakha had told the bench that he has colon cancer and requires a colonoscopy and also a check-up for skin allergy and dental issues.

Navlakha had moved the top court challenging the April 26 order of the Bombay High Court, which dismissed his plea for house arrest over apprehensions of lack of adequate medical and other basic facilities in Taloja jail near Mumbai where he is currently lodged.

The High Court had said Navlakha's apprehensions about the lack of medical aid and inadequate basic facilities at the Taloja prison, were "ill-founded".

Navlakha, one of the several civil liberties activists in the Bhima Koregaon case, has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for an alleged conspiracy to topple the government. He was arrested by the probe agency in April 2020.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted bail to 82-year-old activist P Varavara Rao in the case.