The Bombay High Court granted bail to scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, noting that prima facie the only case made out against him relates to alleged association with a terror outfit and support given to it, for which the maximum punishment is 10 years in jail.
According to a report of PTI, A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and M N Jadhav said Teltumbde has already spent more than two years in jail.
The high court, however, stayed its order for a week so that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the prosecuting agency in the case, can approach the Supreme Court. This means that Teltumbde will not be able to walk out of jail till then.
The court granted him bail on a surety of Rs one lakh. The NIA sought the court to stay its order for one week so that it can appeal in Supreme Court. The bench accepted this and stayed its order for a week.
Teltumbde, who is presently lodged at the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai, had moved the high court last year after a special court refused to grant him bail. In his plea, Teltumbde had claimed that he was never present at the December 31, 2017 Elgar Parishad event held in Pune nor made any provocative speeches.