The special NIA court rejected the bail application of human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, while observing that there was a nexus between him and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
As per the chargesheet filed in the case, Navlakha was keeping in contact with Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai via an email ID and sometimes through phone as well. Navlakha was in touch with Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai and the former had also visited the US thrice to attend and address the ‘Kashmiri American Council’ (KAC) Conference that was being conducted by the latter, who has been convicted in America for terror funding.
Nexus between Navlakha & ISI: NIA court
The NIA court, in its order, noted that the prosecution had produced a copy of the document titled “SUPPLEMENTAL POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES WITH RESPECT TO SENTENCING FACTORS’ pertaining to a case – United States of America versus Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai.
“It (document) prima facie shows a nexus between applicant (Navlakha) and Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai,” the special court observed. Notably, Navlakha had also written a letter to the US court judge presiding over Nabi Fai’s case for clemency, the central probe agency has alleged.
The special judge stated that the supplementary chargesheet and documents relied on by the prosecution “prima facie shows that the applicant is an active member of the said banned terrorist organization (CPI-Maoist) and he carries out activities in furtherance of the object of said organization”.
The special court noted that documents produced along with the chargesheet “show active involvement of the applicant (Navlakha) in crime and participation in conspiracy and also that “he underwent weapons training with other accused”.
“Considering totality of material, role of the applicant cannot be segregated from role of the co-accused and there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the applicant are prima facie true,” it said.
Ghulam Nabi Fai was held by the FBI in July 2011 for accepting funds from ISI and the Pakistan government.
Bombay High Court directs the special court to rehear bail plea
Last month, the Bombay High Court directed the special court to hear Navlakha’s bail plea again after observing that the previous order, rejecting his bail plea, did not contain an analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution.
In his bail plea, Navlakha had claimed that communicating with a fugitive for academic, journalistic, or other purposes which are not illegal is not an offence and the charges of UAPA are not applicable against him.
