Maharashtra govt agrees to shift jailed poet Varavara Rao to Nanavati Hospital

Rao, 81, had filed a bail application & writ petition asking to be shifted to Nanavati Hospital immediately, owing to his 'diminishing neurological and physical health condition'.

File photo of poet Varavara Rao, arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case | PTI

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday agreed to shift jailed poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai for treatment for 15 days.

Following the intervention of a bench of Justices SS Shinde and Madhav Jamdar, the state said it will shift Rao (81) out of the Taloja prison in neighbouring Navi Mumbai to the Nanavati Hospital as a “special case”.

State’s counsel Deepak Thakre told the court that he had taken instructions from Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who said the state had no objection to shifting Rao to the Nanavati Hospital.

Rao had filed a bail application and a writ petition seeking he be shifted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai immediately, owing to his “diminishing neurological and physical health condition”.