Renukaswamy murder: Court may cancel approver status of Darshan’s co-accused

The Supreme Court of India has scheduled a bail hearing for activist Surendra Gadling on October 14, according to a ruling made on September 1, 2026. The advocate and activist is contesting his detention in the 2016 Surjagarh iron ore mine arson case. Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, representing Gadling, informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih, and Sandeep Mehta that his client has been imprisoned for over seven years.

Sibal also highlighted that Gadling had previously been granted bail in another case involving alleged links to Maoist organizations. The Maharashtra government, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, requested the court to schedule the hearing on a non-miscellaneous day to enable a comprehensive examination of the evidence against Gadling.

The current bail plea stems from the 2016 Surjagarh arson case, where vehicles carrying iron ore from mines in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district were allegedly set ablaze by individuals linked to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). Gadling has been held in Taloja Central Prison since June 2018, following his arrest in a separate case involving the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links.

The prosecution contends that speeches made at a conference in Pune on December 31, 2017, incited violence near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial the following day. Gadling was arrested in February 2019 in connection with the Surjagarh arson case. The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court dismissed Gadling's bail plea on January 31, 2023, stating that the allegations regarding his association with the banned Maoist organization seemed credible on their face.

Gadling subsequently sought Supreme Court intervention, and the matter was placed before the court on October 10, 2023. However, the bail plea has experienced several delays, including judge recusals. On July 21, 2026, Supreme Court judge Shree Chandrashekhar withdrew from the case, marking the third such recusal by a Supreme Court judge within the past year.

Earlier, on August 8, 2025, senior advocate Anand Grover, also representing Gadling, had implored then Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai to expedite the matter, citing the prolonged incarceration and repeated adjournments of the bail plea due to the prosecution's demand for additional time to file its counter-affidavit.