HC ALLOWS RAO’S COUNSEL TO VISIT HIM TO COMPLETE BAIL FORMALITIES

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday permitted a counsel of poet-activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-maoist links case, to visit him in the Nanavati Hospital here to obtain his signatures for completion of his bail formalities.

Rao, 82, was on Monday granted interim bail for six months by the high court on medical grounds in the case being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The court had asked Rao to deposit a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two solvent sureties of the like amount, and at that time refused to grant request of his lawyer Anand Grover for permission to the activist’s counsels to meet him.

On Thursday, a bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale allowed advocate R Satyanarayan to meet Rao to get his signatures on an application seeking permission from the HC to modify his bail conditions.

On Wednesday, Grover approached the HC seeking that Rao be permitted to deposit temporary cash bonds before the NIA court instead of the solvent sureties. Grover had said that the procedure for obtaining sureties was time-taking.

He had sought permission to deposit the cash bonds for a period of two months and complete the solvent sureties formalities in such period.

On Thursday, he urged the HC to allow advocate Satyanarayan to meet Rao. The HC granted permission and directed Rao’s counsels to mention on Friday the application for modifying the condition for sureties.