Jailed Poet-Activist Varavara Rao Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Maoist ideologue and revolutionary writer P Varavara Rao, arrested over an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018, has tested positive for COVID-19, a hospital official said on Thursday. The 80-year-old, who was kept at the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai under judicial custody, was admitted to the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai earlier this week.

Varavara Rao is asymptomatic and has general weakness, Dr Ranjeet Mankeshwar, dean of the JJ Hospital, told news agency PTI. The poet-activist's medical report came on Thursday and he was found to be coronavirus positive, he aid.

"He has been found positive for COVID-19, but his condition is stable, no symptoms of COVID-19 have been found, he is having general weakness," said Dr Mankeshwar. "His treatment is going on," he said.

"We are providing best health facilities to him and by late (Thursday) night he may be shifted to St George Hospital (another state-run hospital) for further treatment," said Dr Mankeshwar, refuting complaints by family members that he is not getting proper medical care.

Varavara Rao, who hails from Telangana, was shifted to the government-run hospital in south Mumbai on Monday night after he complained of dizziness and was later admitted to its neurology department.

His family members along with several writers and activists had asked the Maharashtra government to immediately shift him to hospital for treatment, citing his deteriorating health condition.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and minister Jitendra Awhad had also demanded that Rao be shifted to hospital.

Varavara Rao's family members on Sunday had demanded that the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care and claimed that when the veteran activist contacted them last week, he was in a "delirious state and hallucinating".

The poet-activist has been in jail for about 22 months and had earlier approached the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

On Monday, Varavara Rao filed two petitions in the Bombay High Court, seeking temporary bail owing to his ill-health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital.

Varavara Rao and nine other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case in 2018, which was initially probed by the Pune Police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial.

The police have also claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links.

Varavara Rao, who headed "Veerasam", an association of revolutionary writers, had strongly denied the allegations. He had said that all five arrested in the case were working for the betterment of oppressed.