The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail petitions of civil rights activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima Koregaon violence case and ordered them to surrender within three weeks, PTI reported.

The top court bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah also ordered the activists to turn in their passports.

Earlier this month, the top court had extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Navlakha and Teltumbde and said that it will hear the appeals filed by them against a Bombay High Court order that rejected their anticipatory bail pleas.

While refusing to grant anticipatory bail to Navlakha and Teltumbde on February 14, the court had extended their interim protection from arrest by four weeks so they could approach the top court.

Activists Navlakha and Teltumbde were charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code following the violence at Bhima Koregaon village in Pune on January 1, 2018. Navlakha, who is accused of having links with Maoists, was one of the 10 activists arrested in 2018.

Last year, a Pune sessions court had rejected their anticipatory bail pleas. The court also denied them a three-day interim protection, paving the way for their arrest in the case. After that, they moved the Bombay High Court.

Violence broke out between Dalits and Marathas in the village of Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2018. This came a day after an event in Pune, called the Elgar Parishad, was organised to commemorate the Battle of Bhima Koregaon in 1818 in which the Dalit soldiers fighting for the British Army defeated the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of the Maratha empire. One person died in violence during a bandh called by Dalit outfits on January 2.