NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea by the National Investigation Agency for recall of its order to keep UAPA accused Gautam Navlakha under house arrest.
The court also ordered that he be shifted to his house arrest location within 24 hours.
The court had earlier this month permitted Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his ill-health.
The NIA had moved the apex court seeking vacation of its order, contending the activist, charged in a case involving threat to national security and integrity, does not deserve any special treatment.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NIA, had said in court that the accused, instead of giving the address of his house, has preferred the address of the library-cum-office of the Communist Party.
To this the court on Friday said that there was no discrepancy if Navlakha is staying at a place owned by CPI, a recognised political party. However the court also ordered additional security measures to be put in place at the premises.
The court also ordered that he be shifted to his house arrest location within 24 hours.
The court had earlier this month permitted Navlakha, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to be placed under house arrest owing to his ill-health.
The NIA had moved the apex court seeking vacation of its order, contending the activist, charged in a case involving threat to national security and integrity, does not deserve any special treatment.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NIA, had said in court that the accused, instead of giving the address of his house, has preferred the address of the library-cum-office of the Communist Party.
To this the court on Friday said that there was no discrepancy if Navlakha is staying at a place owned by CPI, a recognised political party. However the court also ordered additional security measures to be put in place at the premises.
The court had also taken note of the submissions of senior lawyer Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Navlakha, that the apex court’s November 10 direction to shift him from Navi Mumbai’s Taloja prison and place him under house arrest owing to his worsening health has not been compiled with so far.
With Friday’s order, Navlakha is expected to walk out of jail in the next 24 hours.