The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told the Bombay High Court that Bhima Koregaon accused Sudhir Dhawale’s bail plea was rightly rejected by the Pune sessions judge K.D. Wadane.
This was stated in an affidavit it filed in response to a petition filed by Mr. Dhawale challenging the order passed by Mr. Wadane on September 5, 2019 rejecting the default bail plea. “Mr Wadane had no jurisdiction to take cognisance as original jurisdiction as the case was not committed by the magistrate,” the appeal contended.
The affidavit filed by NIA says the issue of section 22 (power of State government to constitute special courts) of the NIA Act would not arise in this case because the investigation was transferred to the NIA on January 24, 2020, and since there was no court constituted under section 11 (power of Central government to constitute special courts) of the Act, the question of producing the accused at the special court in Mumbai would never arise.
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“Mr. Dhawale was, therefore, rightly produced before Wadane and he rightly remanded him in police custody, then judicial custody and also rejected his bail plea. If the interpretation of the accused is considered, then in every case where there exists an NIA court, the accused would have to be produced there, irrespective of the case being transferred to the agency,” it says.
“The involvement of the left-wing extremists and the spread and the scope of the offence is not only limited to the State of Maharashtra, but includes the regions of the country that are affected by the Naxalites movements. All the accused have committed gross illegal acts, which are detrimental to the interest of the nation,” the affidavit filed by Vikram Khalate, Superintendent of Police of NIA, adds.
