The Supreme Court on January 3, issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a bail plea filed by professor Hany Babu in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol sought a response from the NIA and asked it to respond in three weeks.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Babu seeking regular bail while challenging a September 2023 order of the Bombay High Court which had rejected his bail plea. The High Court while rejecting his bail plea had observed that the offences alleged were serious, and that evidence shows that the professor “was an expert in setting up appointments and developing code structure which was vital for secret communication”.
A Special NIA court had earlier rejected his bail application after which he had moved to the High Court. Babu, a former Delhi University professor, was arrested in July 2020 on charges of being a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and being involved in conspiracy to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
NIA had claimed that the letter was found on Babu’s computer. However, Babu has contended that the letter was neither written by him nor addressed to him nor did it mention his role in the conspiracy.
(with inputs from ANI)
