DU Prof Hany Babu’s NIA Custody Extended Till Aug 7

Mumbai: A special court here on Tuesday extended till August 7 the NIA custody of Delhi University's associate professor Hany Babu, who was arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

Hany Babu Musaliyarveettil Tharayil, associate professor in the Delhi University's Department of English, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week for his alleged involvement in the case.

The NIA has alleged that the accused has links with the CPI (Maoists).

The special court had last week remanded him in NIA custody till August 4.

As his custody ended on Tuesday, he was produced before the court by the probe agency.

Seeking his custody further, the NIA informed the court that some 1.26 lakh mails have been recovered from his email account and they need to be scrutinised.

His social media accounts, which were allegedly used for communicating with other accused persons, suspects and sympathisers of CPI (Maoists) also needed to be scrutinised, it said.

The NIA further claimed that investigations revealed that Hany Babu was in contact with the other arrested accused who it alleged were involved in raising funds for Maoists released from prison, and further probe in this regard was underway.

NIA also claimed that it came to light during the probe that a conspiracy was hatched by the accused persons, who promoted enmity between various caste groups. It led to violence, loss of life and state-wide agitation,

After hearing the probe agency's submission, special court judge R R Bhosale granted the accused's custody to NIA for three more days.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The Pune police filed a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet in the case on November 15, 2018 and February 21, 2019, respectively.

The NIA took up the investigation in the case on January 24 this year.

‘Will Fight Legal Battle Without Fear’

Newsclick adds: After a 10-member NIA team conducted a raid at the DU professor’s house in Noida, his wife, Jenny Rowen, also a professor in Delhi University, told the New Indian Express that they would “fight a legal battle without giving in to fear.”

“The government is giving out a message to others that if you speak up like Babu, you’ll also face the same consequences. We are not even Leftist but we are being branded as Maoists. They are talking about things that we have no idea about. This is not a time to fear, this is the time to resist”, she told NIE.

Hany Babu, 54, an anti-caste activist, is the 12th person to be arrested in the Bhima Korgeaon and Elgar Parishad case. A resident of Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, he was arrested by NIA on July 28. The other 11 rights activists already in jail are Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Arun Ferreira, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Vernon Gonsalves, Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, all of whom have denied all the charges against them. They have been repeatedly denied bail.