Elgaar Parishad: Teltumbde’s NIA custody extended until April 25

Mumbai, Apr 18: A special court in Mumbai has extended the National Investigation custody of activist, Anand Teltumbde until April 25 in connection with the Elgaar Parishad case.

Teltumbde was arrested on April 15 along with activist, Gautam Navlakha. They were ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender before the NIA within a week.

Last week the Supreme Court had questioned them for not surrendering in compliance of its order, by which the court had on March 16 directed them to surrender, within three weeks.

Though we expected that the accused would surrender, honouring the order of this court, they have not done so. We are told that in Bombay the courts are functioning. It would have been appropriate for the accused to surrender as the courts are open and not totally closed.

Since the petitioners have enjoyed protection for long, by way of the last opportunity, we extend the time grand to surrender for one week, the Bench had said. The activists had approached the Supreme Court seeking more time to surrender due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. They contended that they were suffering from ailments and hence should not allow themselves to be exposed to public places. The Centre, however, opposed their contention and said that the jail will be a safe place for them.