The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, December 19, granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, who was accused in the Bhima Koregaon riot case in 2018. A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige also granted a three-week stay on the order of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)s to appeal in the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court. 

Navlakha’s bail conditions are the same as that of his co-accused Anand Teltumbde and Mahesh Raut, who were also arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case of 2017. The conclave, according to the police, is what triggered the violence the next day near the Bhima Koregaon war memorial in Pune. 

Navlakha is the seventh accused to get bail in this case after Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira. 

Although Navlakha was in prison initially, he was shifted to his house and placed under house arrest in November 2022, following orders by the Supreme Court, citing the age of the activist.