Ten out of 16 persons arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, including Wilson and Dhawale, have secured bail so far.The Pune police in 2018 registered the case, alleging the accused delivered provocative speeches at the Elgar Parishad conclave on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in the district the next day.According to the police, the conclave was backed by Maoists.The other accused who have been granted bail include Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha and Mahesh Raut.Raut, however, remained in jail after the NIA challenged his bail in the Supreme Court.The special NIA court on Tuesday granted him interim bail for 18 days to enable him to appear for an LLB exam.Stan Swamy, one of the accused, died in 2021 while in prison.The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the probe into the case from the Pune police and filed a chargesheet.The special court is yet to frame charges against the accused.Wilson, arrested in June 2018 from his home in Delhi, was described by the probe agencies as one of the top alleged brass of urban Maoists.Dhawale was accused of being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).The NIA chargesheet, submitted in August 2021, said Wilson and other accused were active members of the banned terrorist organisation who wanted to establish a ‘janata sarkar’ via revolution supported by a commitment to protracted armed struggle to undermine and seize power from the state.The accused were charged with more than a dozen offences, including promoting enmity between different groups, doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony, waging war against the government, and several sections under the stringent anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
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