Pune: A Pune court rejected the bail applications of urban naxals Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on Friday. They were arrested for their alleged naxal links on August 28.

The police had arrested the three urban naxals along with two others — poet P Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha — in connection with the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which allegedly triggered violence at Bhima Koregaon the next day.

The police said that some of the backers of the conclave had naxal links. District and sessions judge KD Vadane rejected the bail applications of Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira.

The prosecution had argued that they have "corroborative evidence" against the accused to prove their involvement in naxal activities, such as mobilising cadres, recruiting students from eminent institutes and sending them to the interior parts of the country to become "professional revolutionaries", raise funds and procure weapons.

With PTI inputs