Days after revolutionary writer Varavara Rao was put under house arrest, following raids by the Pune police on his own residences and that of his family, his granddaughter has penned a note detailing the experience.
Varavara Rao was picked up by the police for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His granddaughter, Ala, studying Class 5 in a school in Hyderabad, wrote a moving note that she was 'terrified' and 'almost cried' when she heard about the raids.
"I was coming home in my van (from school). Then, my van driver told me that there were police near my grandparents' house. Then I know that they came to arrest my grandfather," Ala narrates.
"We reached home and there I met my mother. She told me that they were going to a press conference. Then I told my mother that I want to come and we all went. I was terrified when I was told that they took her phone and Kindle," she added.
Ala also said that she almost cried when her aunt told her "they are going to dump it and not give them back," because she also had contacts of her friends from her previous school in the phone.
The phones mentioned in the note continue to be in police custody for investigation purposes.
The 9-year-old also said that she cried when she heard her parents speaking at the press conference.
Last week, the Pune police brought back the revolutionary writer to Hyderabad, a day after the Supreme Court ordered the police to keep the activists under house arrest till September 6. Police made tight security arrangements around his house in Gandhi Nagar area.
Varavara Rao was taken into custody by a team of the Pune police after eight-hour long searches at his residence and the houses of his family members. His family was told that he was arrested in a case relating to the alleged plot by Maoists to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The police had produced him before a court in Hyderabad and taken him to Pune on a transit remand. The same day, four other human rights activists and lawyers were arrested in other parts of the country for alleged links with Maoists.
With IANS inputs