The Bombay High Court on Monday extended the medical bail of Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao till January 7. This comes after Rao sought time to respond to the medical reports of city's Nanavati Hospital, which has concluded that the prime accused in the Bhima-Koregaon violence, is medically stable.
A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal will now hear the matter on January 4.
Notably, the bench had last month ordered the NIA to get Rao examined at a private hospital at the agency's cost. Accoridingly, the central agency had got Rao examined in city's Nanavati hospital, where he was initially treated for Covid and other ailments.
Last week, the NIA through special prosecutor Sandesh Patil, submitted a summary report which stated Rao's medical tests showed no significant abnormalities. The report further stated that he didn't required any active management or change in his regular medications.
"As per the report, Rao is able to do all the activities of daily living, and overall his neurological functions were normal," Patil had emphasised.
At this, senior counsel Anand Grover representing Rao, pointed out that the NIA was relying only on a summary of the report and not the entire examination record. "Let there be no confusion regarding the health status of my client. Thus, the detailed reported must be brought on record," Grover submitted.
"But this summary report comes from a hospital of your (Rao's) choice," the bench responded.
Patil, however, stressed on the need for Rao to surrender and submitted that the correctness of the report could be debated later.
On Monday, Grover sought time from the bench to respond to the medical reports. He submitted that when the HC bench of Justice Sambhaji Shinde had granted bail to his client, at that time too, the hospital had submitted such positive report.
