The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday opposed in the Bombay High Court the bail plea of professor Hany Babu, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, arguing he actively participated in activities to promote Naxalism and wanted to overthrow the government.

A division bench of Justices N M Jamdar and N R Borkar was hearing Babu's bail plea.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the NIA, told the court Babu was a member of the banned terror outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the prosecution has seized material from his laptop to show he was in constant contact with other accused in the case.

Babu wanted to promote and expand Naxalism and was a part of the conspiracy to wage a war against India by overthrowing the elected govt, said the central agency's counsel.

He along with others wanted to set up "janata sarkar" or people's government through armed struggle, Singh told the court.

The ASG further argued Babu used to train other members of the outfit on how to avoid phone tapping.

The court will continue hearing the plea on Friday.

Babu, an associate professor at the Delhi University, was arrested in July 2020 in the case and is currently lodged in Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai.

The NIA has accused Babu of being a co-conspirator in propagating Maoist activities and ideology on the instructions of CPI (Maoist) leaders.

The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the 'Elgar Parishad' conclave, held at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts.

The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named accused, was later transferred to the NIA.