Bombay HC extends Bhima Koregaon-accused Varavara Rao’s time to surrender till 28 Feb
Judiciary

Bombay HC extends Bhima Koregaon-accused Varavara Rao’s time to surrender till 28 Feb

Rao, 83, is on a temporary release from jail since Feb last year due to ill-health. He was due to surrender on 5 September but has been granted extension several times on various grounds.

   
P Varavara Rao | Photo: ANI File

P Varavara Rao | Photo: ANI File

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday extended till February 28 the time granted to poet-activist Varavara Rao to surrender in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

Rao (83), an accused in the case, was granted temporary bail for health reasons by the high court in February 2021.

He was to surrender on September 5, but filed a plea seeking an extension of the bail and later filed another application seeking permanent bail on the ground of ill-health.

Since then, the high court has extended the time given to him for surrendering before the Taloja prison authorities in Navi Mumbai several times on various grounds.

As per the last order, Rao was to surrender on February 5.

His bail applications were mentioned by the lawyers for urgent hearing on Friday before a bench of Justices S S Shinde and N R Borkar.

The bench then deferred the deadline for surrender to February 28, 2022.

Rao’s bail applications are likely to be heard in coming weeks.

The case, now being handled by the National Investigation Agency, relates to `Elgar Parishad’, a conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which according to Pune Police was funded by the Maoists. The inflammatory speeches made there led to violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial the next day, the police had alleged.

This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.


Also read: Bombay HC relied on this Supreme Court order in a UAPA case to grant bail to Varavara Rao