'Free at last': Varavara Rao discharged from hospital, released on interim bail

The Bombay High Court on February 22 granted Rao, 82, interim bail on medical grounds for six months

Eminent poet and writer Pendyala Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, who was recently granted bail by the Bombay High Court, was discharged from a Mumbai hospital Saturday night.

The 82-year-old veteran activist and Left-wing ideologue was undergoing medical treatment at Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai, where he had been admitted by the Maharashtra government following court orders.

Varavara Rao was granted bail on February 22 by a division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice S S Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale.

"Free at last! Varavara Rao out of Nanavati hospital 11.45 pm, March 6, 2021,” activist and lawyer Indira Jaising tweeted with a smiling photo of Varavara Rao.

In July 2020, he had tested positive for Covid-19 and subsequently recovered. He is also facing several age-related ailments.

Over the last year, Varavara Rao's family members — wife P Hemalatha, and daughters P Sahaja, P Anala, P Pavana — had been issuing statements from Hyderabad seeking medical attention for him.