Hyderabad: Revolutionary Telugu poet and writer Varavara Rao, who is in judicial custody in connection with Bhima Koregaon case, has been admitted to JJ Hospital at Mumbai.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said on Friday night that his family is being informed to family members and necessary passes are being issued for them to travel to Mumbai.
"We are coordinating with agencies at Mumbai," the Police Commissioner tweeted.
The news of Varvara Rao's admission to hospital came on a day when rights activists and his family members staged protests at their respective residences in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana demanding the immediate release of Rao and Delhi University professor GN Saibaba. They voiced the apprehension that the activists may be facing the threat of coronavirus in jails.
Varavara Rao's wife Hemalatha and daughter Pavana staged a three-hour-long protest at home, holding placards for release of the 80-year-old who was arrested in November 2018.
Two days ago, Varavara Rao's three daughters had written a letters to the Governor and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, demanding his release on bail or parole.
"Our father is aged 80 and ailing with multiple health issues and highly vulnerable to be affected by coronavirus. During the last eight weeks of lockdown, we were not allowed to visit him in jail and even the usual correspondence was also disallowed," wrote Sahaja, Pavana and Anala.
Rao, leader of Revolutionary Writers Association (RWA), is currently lodged at the Taloja jail at Navi Mumbai, which reportedly saw the death of a prisoner due to COVID-19.
Read:Centre transferred Koregaon-Bhima probe to NIA without state's consent: Deshmukh
"The lawyers were also not permitted to visit him. We have been extremely anxious to find out his well-being and during these eight weeks, he was allowed to make phone calls for three times to speak to our mother, who is also ailing and 70 plus. Even the phone conversation was allowed only for two minutes."