Maoist link case: Maharashtra govt moves SC against acquittal of ex-DU professor G.N. Saibaba, five others

New Delhi: The Maharashtra government moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court's Tuesday order acquitting former Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and five others accused in an alleged Maoist link case.

Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court's Nagpur Bench acquitted Saibaba and five others, overturning the 2017 verdict of a Gadchiroli sessions court which had sentenced them to life terms.

A division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki S.A. Menezes ordered the acquitted accused to be released from jail after depositing Rs 50,000 each as bail bond.

Justices Joshi and Menezes re-heard Saibaba’s case after a previous division bench of the Bombay High Court had also acquitted the disabled professor in October 2022.

The re-hearing took place after the Supreme Court set aside the October 2022 acquittal order and remanded the matter for a fresh hearing back to the Bombay High Court.

The prosecution alleged that Saibaba and others were working for the banned CPI-Maoist and its frontal organisations like the Revolutionary Democratic Front. The Maharashtra Police had seized evidence like Maoist literature, pamphlets, electronic materials, and other things deemed to be "anti-national" from them.