GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Friday extended the protection from arrest granted to Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi in connection with an anti-CAA protest and suspected Maoist links case until March 13.
Gogoi allegedly spoke against the Central government during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
He had petitioned the Supreme Court in response to the Gauhati High Court's February 9 order allowing the special NIA court in Assam to proceed with framing charges against him in one of the two cases.
After noting that Gogoi's counsel was unavailable, a bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal deferred the matter to March 13.
"Interim protection will be extended until the next date," the court said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier told the Apex court that bail could not be granted to Gogoi as he is an alleged kingpin of Maoist activities in the state.
Gogoi, however, repeatedly said that cases against him resulted from "political vendetta."
Earlier, the Gauhati High Court permitted NIA to file charges in a special court against Gogoi and three of his associates.
The high court's decision followed an NIA appeal challenging a special NIA court's decision to clear the four.
After reopening the case, a high court division bench comprised of Justices Suman Shyam and Malasri Nandi directed the agency to proceed with charging.
"The high court granted the NIA's request to reopen the case and charge the four people. The Special NIA Court will hear the case again, "Santanu Borthakur, Gogoi's counsel, had stated.
The MLA has appealed the order to the Supreme Court.
The other three accused were Dhaijya Konwar, Bittu Sonowal, and Manash Konwar, who were all granted bail and released from jail in the NIA case.