A court in Pune on Friday rejected the bail applications of activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, who were arrested for their alleged Maoist links.
The Pune Police had arrested these three activists along with two others - poet P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha -- on August 28 in connection with the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, which allegedly triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima the next day.
Police alleged that some of the backers of the conclave had Maoist links.
District and Sessions Judge (Special Judge) K D Vadane rejected the bail applications of Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira.
The prosecution, while opposing the bail applications, had argued that they have "corrborative evidence" against the accused to prove their involvement in Maoist activities, such as mobilising cadres, recruiting students from eminent institutes and sending them to the interior to become "professional revolutionaries", raise funds and procure weapons.
The apex court had said on September 19 that it would look into the case with a hawk's eye as liberty cannot be "sacrificed at the altar of conjectures".
It had told the Maharashtra government that there should be a clear-cut distinction between opposition and dissent on one hand and attempts to create disturbance, law and order problems or overthrow the government on the other.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, Ashwini Kumar and advocate Prashant Bhushan also alleged that the entire case was cooked up and adequate safeguards should be provided to protect the liberty of five activists.
The apex court had earlier said that it may order an SIT probe if it found that the evidence has been "cooked up".
The Supreme Court on September 28 had refused to interfere in the arrest of five rights activists in connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence case and declined to appoint a SIT for a probe into their arrest.
(With inputs from PTI)
