Mumbai, June 12: The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea by activist-poet P Varavara Rao, 85, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon–Elgar Parishad case, seeking permission to permanently shift his residence from Mumbai to Hyderabad.
High Court hearing scheduled
A bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata asked the NIA to file its reply to the plea and kept the matter for hearing after two weeks.
Rao was arrested in 2018. In March 2021, he was granted temporary bail for six months on medical grounds by the Bombay High Court. Later, the Supreme Court in August 2022 granted him bail on medical grounds.
One of the conditions in the bail order was that Rao cannot leave the jurisdiction of the special NIA court in Mumbai without express permission of the court.
Rao seeks permanent shift to Hyderabad
Seeking permission to shift to Hyderabad, Rao has contended that his continued stay in Mumbai has become difficult because of age, illness and rising expenses.
Further, he and his 76-year-old wife need the support of family members, who are all based in Hyderabad, where he owns a house. Besides, he submitted that his daughter and granddaughter are medical professionals.
Staying in Mumbai has become financially burdensome, with monthly expenses of more than Rs 77,000 against a pension of about Rs 50,000.
His plea contends that besides “the financial stress… he had to bear the physical and emotional stress of changing six places in five years. There is either a problem in finding a place, due to the criminal case, or the land owners are asking him to vacate.”
Rao approached the HC after his plea was rejected by the special NIA court on March 16. The trial court noted that the permission earlier granted by the Supreme Court in 2022 to travel to Hyderabad was temporary and did not allow him to leave Mumbai permanently.
His plea contends that the restriction was not intended to bar a permanent move to Hyderabad, especially given his medical condition and repeated difficulties in securing accommodation in Mumbai.
Background of the case
The case stems from alleged inflammatory speeches at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, according to the police, triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima the following day. The Pune Police initially investigated the matter, claiming Maoist links to the event, before the probe was transferred to the NIA.
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A total of 16 persons were arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy. All are out on bail. Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist, died in custody in July 2021 while awaiting trial.
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