[Bhima Koregaon] Only those letters of accused with suspicious content withheld: NIA to Bombay High Court

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told the Bombay High Court that not all letters written by Bhima Koregaon accused to their family members are being withheld by the jail superintendent. .Instead, only those letters which have objectionable, cryptic or suspicious content are withheld, the affidavit filed by NIA said."The letters with such objectionable, cryptic or suspicious contents are only withheld and not all the communications made by the petitioner. It is further pertinent to note that letter communication with the family members and the advocate is also allowed and the petitioner is writing letters to the advocate and his family members. Hence the present petition be dismissed with cost." NIA stated in its reply.The affidavit was filed in response to the plea filed by Rama Teltumbde and Susan Gonsalves, wives of Anand Teltumbde and Vernon Gonsalves, both accused in the Bhima Koregaon case of 2018. In their plea, they had alleged that the superintendent of Taloja Central Prison, where the accused are presently lodged, was withholding letters sent to and received from their family members.In its reply filed on Thursday, NIA stated it is permitting the family members and the accused to communicate with each other through letters and hence the present petition should be dismissed with costs..NIA stated that the contention of the petitioners that the communication and the letters had been completely stopped by the prison authorities was false and misleading.At present, the prisoners could send and receive letters from their family members subject to the scrutiny of the contents of the letters as per the Maharashtra Prisoners Rules. NIA stated that as per Section 17(10) of the Prison Rules, enough powers are provided to the superintendent of jail to to withhold the incoming and outgoing of letters with objectionable, cryptic or suspicious contents..The agency further submitted that upon scrutinising the letters, it was brought to the notice of the prison authorities that the letters written by the petitioners contained incriminating material and was hampering the trial. NIA claimed that Teltumbde was writing letters to some third person "Mr. Riyaz" and those letters contained "scandalous allegations regarding hatching of conspiracy in connection with Elgar Parishad and article making allegation regarding planting of letters in Rona Willson's computer". The petitioners were trying to pass off prohibited material in the nature of letter, NIA said in the affidavit. .Advocate Sandesh Patil, special counsel for NIA had stated in the previous hearing that the “objectionable material” written in letters was compiled into articles and one such article was published in the The Caravan magazine. The affidavit stated that an article titled ‘Economic goals cannot Disavow Constitutional Vision’ was published in The Caravan. Despite repeated requests, the petitioner indulged in such activities directly hampering the trial. .The NIA affidavit also said that the plea was not maintainable as the rights of the petitioners had not been violated, and the petition was not filed by the accused whose rights were allegedly violated.