India, Jan. 5 -- The Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay on a Bombay high court order that granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case following a request by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The court referred the agency's appeal to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) after being told that similar bail matters of other accused in the same Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case are pending before other benches of the top court.

The NIA had appealed challenging the December 19 order of the Bombay HC that granted bail to the 72-year-old activist. The HC had suspended its order for three weeks so that the NIA could file an appeal in the top court, which was about to lapse on January 9.

"Since the high ...