The Bombay High Court on Friday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a petition filed by Telugu poet and Bhima Koregaon accused P Varavara Rao seeking permission to relocate to Hyderabad, contending that it has become financially difficult for him to continue residing in Mumbai.
The Division Bench of Justice Ajey Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata issued notice on the plea and directed the NIA to file its reply within two weeks.
The 85-year-old had challenged a March 16 order of the Special NIA Court, which rejected his application seeking permission to reside in Hyderabad. He has approached the High Court seeking modification of the conditions imposed while granting him bail in the Bhima Koregaon case.
One of the conditions attached to Rao’s bail required him to remain within Mumbai and prohibited him from leaving the city without prior permission. Rao has argued that maintaining residence in Mumbai has become unaffordable and sought permission to shift permanently to Hyderabad.
The matter assumed significance in light of earlier proceedings before the Supreme Court. In 2024, the Apex Court declined to entertain Rao’s plea seeking modification of a bail condition that required him to obtain prior permission from the trial court before leaving the Greater Mumbai area.
Rao was granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2022 on medical grounds in the Bhima Koregaon case, in which he has been booked under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for alleged links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The poet was arrested on August 28, 2018, and was lodged in Taloja Central Jail after being shifted to Mumbai in November 2018. His health deteriorated during incarceration, leading to his transfer to a hospital in 2020 for medical treatment.
In February 2021, the Bombay High Court granted him temporary medical bail for six months in view of his advanced age and deteriorating health condition. The relief was subsequently extended on multiple occasions. However, on April 13, 2022, the High Court declined to grant him permanent bail and extended the medical bail for a limited period of three months, directing him to surrender thereafter.
Rao challenged that decision before the Supreme Court, which extended his interim protection and ultimately granted him regular bail on medical grounds, subject to various conditions, including restrictions on his movement outside Mumbai.
The Bhima Koregaon case relates to allegations of a larger Maoist conspiracy linked to the Elgar Parishad event held in Pune on December 31, 2017. According to the NIA, Rao and several other activists, allegedly associated with the banned CPI (Maoist), were involved in activities aimed at furthering the organisation’s agenda and conspiring to overthrow the government.
NIA has alleged that inflammatory speeches delivered during the Elgar Parishad programme contributed to the caste violence that broke out near Bhima Koregaon in Maharashtra on January 1, 2018. The prosecution’s case is primarily based on electronic evidence, including letters and emails allegedly recovered from the devices of the accused.
Rao and the other accused have consistently denied the allegations. They have maintained that many of them neither participated in the Elgar Parishad event nor were named in the original FIR. They have further alleged that the electronic evidence relied upon by the prosecution was fabricated and planted.
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