Elgar Parishad case transferred to NIA as it pertains to national security: Probe agency to Bombay HC

The NIA told the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the Centre suo motu on its own decided to transfer the probe into the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case from Pune police to the central agency as it had implications on national securityThe National Investigation Agency NIA also said its credibility is being questioned while it is fighting for the prevention of unlawful and terrorist activities in the country in which Naxal plague has caused destruction at many levelsIt further claimed that while considerable autonomy and functional prerogatives have been accorded to state governments greater powers and prerogatives over a complex range of allencompassing subjects are vested with the Union governmentAlso Read Maharashtra govt submits medical records of late priest Stan Swamy in Bombay High CourtThe central agency submitted its affidavit in the HC in response to a petition filed by human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling and activist Surendra Dhawale arrested in the case challenging the January 2020 decision of the Union government to transfer the probe into the case from the Pune police in Maharashtra to the NIAThe petition filed through advocate S B Talekar in 2020 alleged that the case was transferred by the central government after the BJP lost power in Maharashtra and hence the decision was ldquopolitically motivatedrdquoOn Tuesday Talekar told a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar that the probe into the case was transferred to the NIA two years after the FIR was registeredHe submitted to the court that the NIA had filed an affidavit in the case but the Centre and the Maharashtra government were yet to file their affidavitsHowever NIAs counsel Sandesh Patil said he was not aware of the affidavit filed by the probe agencyldquoThe earlier advocate appearing for the NIA must have filed it I will have to check Give me a weeks time to put our house in orderrdquo Patil saidThe bench then posted the petition for further hearing on July 19The NIA in its affidavit said considering the gravity of the offence and its interstate link and implications on national security the Centre suo motu directed the NIA to take up the investigation into the caseldquoThe present petition is malafide and vexatious as it is a desperate attempt by the petitioner to thwart the investigation into the case related to the Elgar Parishadrdquo the affidavit saidIt further said the petitioners were questioning the credibility of the agency which is fighting towards prevention of unlawful and terrorist activities in the country in which the ldquoNaxal plaguerdquo has caused destruction at many levelsThe affidavit said the NIA was probing the case against the petitioners and other coaccused in a ldquoresponsible and impartial mannerrdquo and it had no personal agenda against themAfter the NIA took over the probe into the case a Pune court transferred the case to the special NIA court in Mumbai it addedThe NIA in its affidavit also said the ldquocontinuous preservation and promotion of national security is the first and final sovereign function of a countryIt claimed that while considerable autonomy and functional prerogatives have been accorded to state governments greater powers and prerogatives over a complex range of allencompassing subjects are vested with the Union governmentldquoA contextual construction of the provisions of the Constitution of India would show that the sovereign function of maintenance of national security is squarely vested with the Union governmentrdquo it saidThe affidavit further said the primary objective to establish the NIA was to better tackle crossborder crimes with interstate and international originations and ramificationsApart from Gadling and Dhawale several other activists Varavara Rao Gautam Navlakha Sudha Bharadwaj Anand Teltumbde Shoma Sen have been arrested in the caseThey are accused of being active members of the CPI Maoist and propagating Maoist ideology and inciting violenceThe activists have been booked under provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA apart from various sections of the Indian Penal Code IPCJesuit priest Father Stan Swamy was also arrested in the case The 84yearold tribal rights activist died in a Mumbai hospital last week in the middle of his fight for bail on health groundsThe Elgar Parishad case is related to inflammatory speeches made at a conclave held in Pune on December 31 2017 which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the KoregaonBhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra cityThe police had claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist linksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever