Varavara Rao goes home on bail after release from hospital

Poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, has been discharged from Nanavati Hospital, people in the know of the matter said.

“Free at last ! Varavara Rao out of Nanavati hospital 11.45 pm, 6th March 2021,” lawyer Indira Jaising tweeted as she posted a picture of Rao smiling into the camera.

The 82-year-old activist, who was granted interim bail for six months on medical grounds by the Bombay high court on February 22, was discharged from the private hospital late Saturday night, they said.

Rao, arrested in 2018, was admitted to the medical facility in November last year due to ill health. The HC had last month directed he be released immediately on bail after being discharged from hospital.

While granting him bail, the high court had asked Rao to furnish a personal bond of ₹50,000 and two solvent sureties of the like amount. Rao later requested the court that he be allowed to furnish cash surety as the process of submitting solvent sureties was taking time. The court last Monday allowed Rao to furnish a cash surety of ₹50,000 and gave him time till April 5 to submit the two solvent sureties of the same amount.

The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The HC while granting him bail imposed various conditions on his release, including a direction to remain in Mumbai, within the jurisdiction of the NIA court here.

After the six-month period, Rao will have to either surrender before the trial court or approach the HC for extension of the bail period.

The case pertains to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the “Elgar Parishad” conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The police have claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.