Bombay High Court grants bail to alleged Maoist leader in Gadchiroli 2019 Naxal attack case

In the Gadchiroli Naxal attack of 2019, the Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to accused Sathyanarayana Rani, the husband of alleged Maoist leader and co-accused late Nirmala Uppuganti. In the attack involving an IED blast, 16 people were killed, including 15 security personnel.

The division bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice V G Bisht passed the order in the appeal filed by Rani against the Trial Court order rejecting his bail plea, Indian Express reported.

Rani is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA), Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act.

Rani's counsel argued that there is no incriminating evidence against him and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had no “material on record” against him. They stressed that the investigating agency only has electronic evidence, which includes clippings of speeches made by co-accused Nirmala Uppuganti and Rani had no role in those speeches.

Uppuganti died of a prolonged illness at a hospice centre in April this year.

Uppuganti was arrested in 2019 along with her husband for their alleged involvement in this case. Reportedly, the incident involved burning of 27 vehicles of an infrastructure company and detonation of a pressure bomb in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli in May 2019.

According to the prosecution, Uppuganti and Rani are allegedly senior members of the banned organisation, Communist Party of India (Maoist) and further investigation revealed that the Maoist leaders were part of a larger conspiracy and participated in the terrorist act.