VARAVARA’S HOUSE ARREST EXTENDED

Hyderabad, Sept. 6: Relatives of Telugu poet Varavara Rao, who is under house arrest for his alleged links with Maoists, Thursday described as ‘small relief’ the Supreme Court extending the confinement till September 12.

The Supreme Court extended till Wednesday the house arrest of five rights activists in connection with the violence in Koregaon-Bhima in Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra government has submitted that keeping the activists under house arrest would hamper the ongoing investigation.

“This is a small relief and partial victory,” N. Venugopal Rao, Varavara Rao’s nephew, said. He said Rao was keeping well now.

He was unwell about a fortnight ago as he was suffering from sinusitis, Venugopal Rao said. Venugopal alleged that police did not allow doctors to attend to Rao. “However, he is alright now,” he said.

The Maharashtra police had arrested Rao from here last month, while activists Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Farreira were nabbed from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bharadwaj from Faridabad in Haryana and civil liberties activist Gautam Navlakha from New Delhi.

The raids and arrests were carried out as part of the probe into the violence at Maharashtra’s Koregaon Bhimavillage following an event called ‘Elgar Parishad’ (conclave) held in Pune last year.