MUMBAI, Nov. 27 -- A special court constituted under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday rejected a plea by scholar and human rights activist Anand Teltumbde, an accused in the 2018 Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, seeking permission to travel to Kochi for an academic engagement. Teltumbde, who is currently out on bail, had sought leave to visit Kochi between November 28 and 30 to speak at a literature and arts festival organised by Malayala Manorama. The NIA opposed the application, telling the court that he was "in habit of seeking permission to proceed out of Mumbai". Special Judge Chakor S Baviskar refused the plea, citing the Bombay High Court's November 2022 order granting bail but restricting Teltumbde from leaving the jurisdiction of the special court without prior approval. The judge also referred to earlier instances where Teltumbde had sought similar relaxations. In September, he had applied to travel to Bengaluru for an academic event but did not press the plea after the restrictions were pointed out. In October, he withdrew a request before the High Court seeking permission to travel to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom for lectures. Reiterating that the travel embargo remained purposeful, the court held that the reasons put forward did not warrant an exception. "How so ever scholar and academician the present applicant/accused be in his field," the order stated, the circumstances were "not sort of an emergency or extreme circumstances which are inevitable"....