Poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was discharged from Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai late Saturday night. The Bombay High Court on February 22 granted Rao interim bail on medical grounds for six months. Rao had been admitted to the private hospital due to ill-health.
Rao was given treatment in the state-run JJ Hospital ever since his arrest in June 2018. In 2020 he tested positive for the coronavirus. Following the HC's directions he was being given treatment at the Nanavati hospital. After he was granted bail, he had requested the court that he be allowed to furnish cash sureties until solvent sureties. The court had granted the request on Monday.It had earlier directed that he be released immediately on bail after being discharged from hospital.
Free at last ! Varavara Rao out of Nanavati hospital 11.45 pm, 6th March 2021 pic.twitter.com/e3s0jZNqeM
— Indira Jaising (@IJaising) March 6, 2021
On December 31, 2017, 82-year-old poet Varavara Rao and several other human rights activists were arrested in 2018 for alleged links with Maoists following the Elgar Parishad meeting held in Maharashtra’s Pune district, one of the prime allegation was that Rao was part of a group that plotted to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, Rao and others have firmly denied all these allegations and have always maintained that the entire case is fake. Recently, a US-based forensic company submitted a report on behalf of Rona Wilson, one of the accused activists. The company called Aresenal Consulting found that Rona's computer was hacked into sophisticatedly and incriminating mails sent from his account to Varavara Rao and others.
Apart from Rao’s bail plea, the court is also hearing a petition filed by his wife, in which she alleged that the continuous imprisoning without adequate medical care is impeding the fundamental right to life guaranteed by constitution of India.
Previously bail pleas were rejected by special sessions court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as the NIA opposed.
(With agency inputs)