Varavara Rao moves Karnataka HC against non-bailable warrant in 2005 case

A lower court in Karnataka had issued a non-bailable warrant against Varavara Rao in connection with the case of the massacre of seven police personnel in Tumakuru district.
Varavara Rao at a police station in Pune in 2018
Varavara Rao at a police station in Pune in 2018
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A day after a lower court in Karnataka issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Telugu poet Varavara Rao in connection with the 2005 police massacre case, his counsel has filed a petition before the Karnataka High Court pleading to set aside warrant. The case pertains to an attack on policemen in Tumakuru district of Karnataka in the year 2005, where Varavara Rao is named as an accused. The poet is currently on bail on medical grounds in the Elgar Parishad case.

The Madhugiri Additional Session's court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Varavara Rao in connection with the case of the massacre of seven police personnel in Tumakuru district of the state. Apart from Varavara Rao, another activist-poet Gaddar is also among the accused. Rao is alleged to have links with naxals who carried out the attack on police personnel in which eight people were killed, including a civilian, on February 5, 2005, at Venkatammanahalli village near Pavagada in Tumakuru district.

S Balan, the counsel for Varavara Rao, told IANS on Monday, October 25 that he has filed a petition to set aside the order of the Additional Sessions court at Madhugiri. The appeal has been made on the grounds that Varavara Rao's movement was restricted by the Mumbai High Court. "Therefore in view of the High Court order he could not appear before the court," he stated.

On the date of the hearing, an exemption application was filed that was erroneously dismissed and the NBW was issued. Therefore, this petition has been filed to set aside the order by the Madhugiri court, he said.

Meanwhile, Rao was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon violence case. Later, he was given bail for six months on medical grounds.

When Varavara Rao was released in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, the Madhugiri court issued a body warrant. "Now he has to appear. There is a direction that he should not leave the jurisdiction of Mumbai airport. His movement was restricted by the Mumbai High Court and he could not appear following which NBW had been issued," advocate Balan explained.

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