81-year-old Telugu poet Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad - Bhima Koregaon case has tested positive for coronavirus. His nephew N. Venugopal took to social media and called it ‘criminal negligence of the state’.
Hospital authorities said he is asymptomatic and will be soon shifted to GT hospital or to St. George hospital. The dean of JJ hospital Dr. Ranjit Mankishwar said that Rao did not show any symptoms of the virus nor did he have any breathing problem and described his condition as stable. The hospital is evaluating his reports for giddiness, he added.
Today the Bombay HC is scheduled to hear Rao’s interim bail plea in which he has challenged the order of the NIA special court which rejected it. At the special court, he had sought temporary bail on the grounds of the coronavirus pandemic on humanitarian grounds for a period as thought appropriate by the court. His plea said that he suffers from heart ailments, hypertension, sinusitis, migraine and vertigo among other health problems. The NIA court however had rejected it on the grounds that there are limitations on granting bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act if the court is convinced that the accusations against the accused are prima-facie true. It also noted that Rao’s regular bail plea had been rejected earlier.
This Sunday, Rao’s family had held a press conference after a routine phone call with him from jail the previous day had worried them. The family said that he had been hallucinating during the call and seemed very unwell. The next day, they moved the Bombay HC to advance the hearing of his interim bail plea. The matter however did not get preponed and will be heard today as scheduled. Also, Rao’s advocate R. Sathyanarayan had on Monday moved an urgent writ petition in the HC seeking that the court direct the prison authorities to submit reports and medical papers on the treatment given to Rao post his discharge from hospital in early June after he suffered electrolyte imbalance and collapsed in jail.
On Monday, the same day that the writ petition was filed, Rao was taken to JJ hospital, hospital authorities said, ‘for checking fitness and checking various health parameters’. The following day, he was reportedly admitted under the neurology department and his condition was said to be stable. All the time, his family said they did not get any official information about him being either taken to the hospital for tests or being admitted.
