Varavara Rao, a Telugu poet who is a defendant in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, told a special NIA court in Mumbai on Tuesday that he was moving from a high-society flat in Mumbai to an ashram-like facility in Bandra as he couldn’t pay rent.
Rao’s lawyer, Advocate Niraj Yadav, said his client will relocate to an ashram-like facility near superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Mannat residence. ‘He could not afford the rent at Malad so he is shifting to an ashram-like facility in Bandra’, Yadav said, adding that as a result, the Bandra police have been asked to take his attendance via video conference.
According to him, Rao was admitted for surgery at the Holy Family Hospital and now is in the hospital and is expected to be discharged today.
NIA’s Special Public Prosecutor Prakash Shetty objected, claiming that the pin code provided in the application is incorrect. ‘Bandra is 50, not 20 that is written here. And behind Mannat is what? We can’t go in search of Mannat’, he claims.
Special Judge D K Kothalikar ordered Yadav to provide a copy of the paperwork indicating that Rao will be relocating to a location within the Bandra Police Station’s jurisdiction.
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The Bombay High Court granted Rao temporary bail in the case on medical grounds. He had been unwell while he was lodged at the jail. However, he is required to stay within Mumbai due to certain conditions set by the court.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, at least six of the fifteen defendants in the Elgar Parishad case in Pune were produced before a special NIA court in Mumbai. The investigating agency had already submitted a draft of the charges. Special Judge DE Kothalikar on Tuesday observed: ‘The matter is still not ready for framing charges. Hence, as of today, physical production of the accused before the Court is not required. Hence, the Superintendent Taloja Central Prison is called upon to produce the accused before the Court through Video Conferencing till further orders’.
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