Pune:

A special court on Tuesday deferred the hearing of the bail plea of activist Surendra Gadlingin the Elgar Parishad case till November 15 because he had not received a copy of the case diary in the FIR registered against G N Saibaba from the Gadchiroli police.

The court had earlier issued a showcause notice to Ahire police station under the Gadchiroli police for seeking its response to Gadling’s plea for the copy of the case diary.

Gadling, who will argue his bail plea in person, plans to use the extracts from the case diary as reference. He believes that an attempt was made by the Gadchiroli police to implicate him in a false case with Saibaba.

Gadling told the special judge, K D Vadane, that the hearing of his bail plea filed a month ago was kept pending because the prosecution had failed to file the say on time. He submitted that he had filed a plea requesting to call documents from the Gadchiroli police a month ago, but till date he had not received them. He also cited a Supreme Court ruling that he was entitled to receive the documents.

Public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar replied that she had filed her say opposing Gadling’s bail plea. She submitted that the documents sought by him had nothing to do with the Elgar Parishad case.

Gadling also raised the issue of poor condition of the lockup at the district and sessions court. He said he was kept there for a few hours and he was feeling suffocated. The judge told him that the issue of lock-up did not come under his preview.

The Pune police arrested Gadling with activists Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Shoma Sena during simultaneous raids on June 6 in relation to the Elgar Parishad probe. The court will hear the bail pleas of Dhawale, Raut and Wilson on November 15 and 16.

TOI