The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to record a statement of jailed activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Bhima Koregaon caste violence case, in a money-laundering case against a news website Newsclick.
The ED had on June 29 sought permission from special judge DE Kothalikar to record the statement of Mr. Navlakha lodged at the Taloja jail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Foreign funding
On February 9, 2021, it had conducted searches and seizures in the premises and residences of the office and office bearers of the news portal and its promoters.
The ED had said the said operation was done in connection with a money-laundering case pertaining to foreign funding.
As per the ED, the web portal and its directors have received over ₹30 crore from March 2018 and March 2020 without showing any credible source for the same.
The ED contends that the said amount was given as salary to Mr. Navlakha since he is an independent director in the venture.
Superintendent of the Taloja jail Kaustubh Kurlekar on June 28 has sought a transfer of 10 of the male co-accused in the case to another jail in the State or the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Mr. Kurlekar has cited grounds that the family members and lawyers representing the accused are giving false complaints regarding jail conditions to put pressure on the officials.
Accused Anand Teltumbde, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sagar Gorkh, Ramesh Gaichor and Mr. Navlakha are in the Taloja jail.
Co-accused poet Varavara Rao, 83, has been granted interim medical bail and Father Stan Swamy, 84, and Prof. Hany Babu, 54, are admitted in private hospital.
