Bombay HC grants 6-month medical bail to Varavara Rao
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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday granted bail to poet and activist P. Varavara Rao, one of the prime accused in Bhima-Koregaon case, on medical grounds for six months.
The bail order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice S. S. Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale in two separate matters pertaining to the 82-year-old ailing activist.
According to NDTV report, Rao has been asked by the court to remain in Mumbai and be available for investigation whenever needed.
Earlier this month, his lawyer, Indira Jaising highlighted his poor health condition before the Bombay High Court, saying that of the 365 days since last February, he spent 149 days in hospital. She urged the court to let Rao out of Maharashtra's Taloja prison where he is lodged as an undertrial, and to permit him to go home and stay with his family in Hyderabad.
The case, being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), involves allegations of provocative speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed led to violence the next day near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial.
Rao, a revolutionary author and Left ideologue, was first arrested by Pune police on August 28, 2018, in connection with the case involving a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he and his family have denied.
Varavara Rao and nine other activists were accused of plotting the violence in collusion with Maoists. Rao, who headed "Veerasam", an association of revolutionary writers, has strongly denied the charge.