The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 19 issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea by Bhima Koregaon case accused Varavara Rao seeking regular bail on medical grounds. A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit said the matter would be heard on August 10. The apex court had on July 12 extended Rao's interim protection till further orders. The 83-year-old, who has challenged the Bombay High Court order rejecting his petition for permanent medical bail, is currently on interim bail on medical grounds and was to surrender on July 12.
The case relates 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 Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The Pune police had also claimed that the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. The NIA later took over the probe into the matter.
In his plea filed against the April 13 order of the Bombay High Court, Rao had said, "The petitioner is an 83-year-old renowned Telugu poet and orator, who has undergone over two years of incarceration as an under-trial." The plea submitted that "any further incarceration would ring the death knell for him as advancing age and deteriorating health are a fatal combination". It said Rao had challenged the High Court order as he was not granted an extension of bail despite his age and precarious health condition, and his prayer to shift to Hyderabad was also denied.
Rao was arrested on August 28, 2018, from his Hyderabad residence and is an under-trial in the case for which an FIR was lodged by Pune police on January 8, 2018, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Initially, Rao said he was put under house arrest following an order of the apex court. On November 17, 2018, he was taken into police custody and later shifted to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.