Bhima-Koregaon: Maharashtra challenges release of Gautam Navlakha in SC

New Delhi, Oct 3: The Maharashtra government has moved the Supreme Court against the release of Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon case.

Under challenge is the order of the Delhi High Court which had released Navlakha from house arrest earlier this week.

The Maharashtra government will mention the matter before the court of the Chief Justice of India and seek an immediate stay on the order of the Delhi High Court. The government would seek to restore his house arrest.

Navlakha was arrested from the national capital and the other four activists were arrested from different parts of the country.

The Maharashtra police had arrested the activists on August 28 in connection with an FIR lodged following a conclave -- 'Elgaar Parishad' -- held on December 31 last year that had allegedly triggered violence later at Koregaon-Bhima village in the state.

The five activists -- Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha -- were put under house arrest on August 29 following a Supreme Court order on the plea by historian Romila Thapar, economists Prabhat Patnaik and Devaki Jain, sociology professor Satish Deshpande and human rights lawyer Maja Daruwala against the police action.