Arson incident at mine: Gadchiroli court rejects bail plea by Gadling

Nagpur-based Gadling and P Varavara Rao of Telangana were among those arrested by the Pune City Police last year in the Elgaar Parishad case for their alleged association with the CPI-Maoist.

In January, the duo were arrested by the Gadchiroli police for their alleged role in the Surjagad incident. Gadling had filed a bail application in this case.

Police said “incriminating documents and letters” recovered from the hard disk of Gadling’s computer had revealed that the act of setting vehicles on fire in Surjagad was allegedly committed on the directions of Gadling, Rao and other co-accused.

The documents and letters were also included in the chargesheet filed by the Pune City Police against the accused before a special court in Pune.

Putting these “incriminating documents” up before the Gadchiroli court, prosecution lawyer A S Pradhan stated that these “show complicity of the applicant in the crime”.

Defence lawyer Nihalsingh Rathod stated that Gadling was being falsely implicated and argued that “there is no incriminating evidence to connect the applicant with the crime except one statement of a witness… the co-accused have already been released on bail.” However, the court rejected Gadling’s bail plea.