Activist and scholar AnandTeltumbde will on Tuesday surrender before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Elgar Parishad-alleged Maoist links case, his lawyer said on Monday.Advocate Mihir Desai said Teltumbde would surrender before the NIA's office at Cumbala Hill in south Mumbai on April 14."This is provided Teltumbde is able to travel till the NIA office keeping in mind restrictions imposed in the city due to the coronavirus pandemic," Desai said.Teltumbde's surrender, if it materialises, will coincide with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.Teltumbde and several other civil liberties activists were booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly having Maoist links and conspiring to overthrow the government.The activists were booked initially by the Pune police following the violence that erupted at Koregaon Bhima there.As per the police, the activists had made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements at the Elgar Parishad meet held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which it said triggered violence the next day.The police also said they were active members of banned Maoist groups. The case was later transferred to NIA.Teltumbde and activist and co-accused Gautam Navlakha were yet to be arrested as they were given interim protection by the Bombay High Court while their pre-arrest bail pleas were being heard.After HC rejected their applications, the duo approached the Supreme Court.On March 17, 2020, the apex court rejected their pleas and directed them to surrender within three weeks.On April 9, the SC granted the duo another week to surrender by way of last chance.
