NIA court issues memo to release Teltumbde from jail

Special judge’s order comes after Supreme Court dismissed special leave petition filed by the agency challenging bail

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Friday issued memo to release Anand Teltumbde from the Taloja Central Jail on Saturday morning.

Special judge R.J. Katariya permitted Mr. Teltumbde eight weeks’ time to furnish a cash bond of ₹1 lakh. He has been directed to stay in Mumbai, within the jurisdiction of the court.

This came hours after a Division Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justice Hima Kohli at the Supreme Court dismissed the special leave petition filed by the NIA challenging the bail granted to Mr. Teltumbde by the Bombay High Court on November 18.

The High Court’s Bench of Justices A.S. Gadkari and Milind Jadhav had noted, “ Prima facie the only case made out against him relates to alleged association with a terror outfit and support given to it, for which the maximum punishment is 10 years in jail, and he has already spent more than two years in prison.”

The court observed, “Offences under Section 13 [punishment for unlawful activities], Section 16 [punishment for terrorist act] and Section 18 [punishment for conspiracy] were not made out and only offences under Sections 38 and 39 [relating to the membership and support to a terrorist organisation] were made out under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Mr. Teltumbde had surrendered before the NIA office in Mumbai on April 14, 2020, after the Supreme Court denied him any relief. He was initially taken into NIA custody and is now lodged at the Taloja Central jail. He has been the managing director and CEO of Petronet India Limited. He was an Indian Institute of Management graduate who taught at the Indian Institute of Technology. He has been booked in the Elgar Parishad case for his alleged links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). He has been charged under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA.

Mr. Teltumbde and 15 others were booked by the Pune police where an offence was registered on January 8, 2018, alleging that they were spreading hatred through provocative songs, plays and speeches at Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017, which led to violence following the incident at Bhima-Koregaon.