Bhima-Koregaon case: Bail hearing arguments end, HC set to review evidence

The bail application hearings of three activists — Dr Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, and Vernon Gonsalves — arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon

The bail application hearings of three activists — Dr Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, and Vernon Gonsalves — arrested in connection with the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon violence, concluded before the Bombay high court (HC) on Monday.

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The court will now review the evidence and arguments before passing an order.

Yug Choudhary, advocate for Dr Sudha Bharadwaj, clarified to the bench of justice Saran Kotwal that he was not pressing on the aspect of admissibility of material that the Pune Police submitted in order to prove Maoist links.

Additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai summarised arguments for the Pune Police, stating that though the call data records (CDR) were disputed by their respective counsels, the fact that there were one or hundred calls showed that there was a link between the three accused and others who are facing charges of being involved in arms deals.

The Pune Police concluded saying that the CDR of the three accused show that they were in constant touch with the other accused Surendra Gadling and Rona Wilson.

Pai submitted that the letter from Bhardwaj, which dealt with the meeting conducted by the Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) on March 19 at Nagpur, confirms their presence along with Wilson.

Advocate Choudhary had opposed this argument and submitted an email from Ferreira to show that Bharadwaj had not attended the meeting.

After the arguments, the court said that it would pass its judgment in due course.