The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Bhima Koregaon violence case on a petition by former Delhi University professor Hany Babu, who is accused of having links with the banned naxal outfit, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) or CPI (Maoist).

A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol issued a notice on Babu’s plea challenging an order of the Bombay high court on September 19, 2022, refusing him bail in the case where he is alleged to have been part of the conspiracy behind the Bhima Koregaon violence of 2018 in Pune.

Advocate Payoshi Roy who appeared for the former professor told the court that the petitioner has been in jail for past four years and requested for a short date. The court posted the matter after three weeks directing NIA and the Maharashtra government to file their responses.

Roy told the court that there was no evidence against him except some code names found in his laptop. The bench went through the record and found that the high court had discussed in detail the role attributed to Babu while denying him bail.

Babu is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and was accused by NIA of indulging in anti-national activities. In February 2022, the special NIA court had rejected his bail plea making out a prima facie case on his involvement in promoting the agenda of CPI(Maoist) outfit.

The HC in its September 2022 verdict went through the entire record produced by NIA and said, “The appellant (Babu) is not just a passive member but an active member and the material on record clearly shows his involvement in the larger conspiracy.” In pursuance of this conspiracy, the court noticed several activities of the outfit targeting members of police, armed forces and constitutional functionaries.

It held, “The appellant is not merely a sympathiser with the organisation but is given substantial responsibility, including conducting activities of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, a frontal organisation of the CPI(Maoist).” The HC also noted that Babu developed code structure for the outfit that was vital for secret communication and evidence was available to show his role in party building and mass mobilisation as part of the outfit’s larger objective of creating terror.