Varavara Rao tests negative for Covid, court seeks medical report

Hospital authorities said he tested negative for Covid-19 and that he is stable.

A special court has directed Mumbai’s JJ Hospital to submit a medical report on the health conditions of poet Varavara Rao, who was arrested in the Elgaar Parishad case. Rao, 81, was rushed to the state-run hospital on Thursday after he fell unconscious at Taloja central jail, where he was lodged. Hospital authorities said he tested negative for Covid-19 and that he is currently stable. “He is stable as of now and is being evaluated. He had dizziness, which seems to have been a vertigo attack,” a senior hospital doctor said.

Rao’s lawyer, R Satyanaraya, moved a plea before the special court on Saturday seeking directions for the report to be submitted, since the court is hearing an interim bail application filed by him. The plea also said that neither his wife nor the lawyer were informed about his medical condition when he was sent to JJ Hospital.

His wife came to know about hospitalisation after the jail authorities called the Vishrambaug police station in Pune, where the investigation was initially conducted. Pune police informed a local police station in Hyderabad, which then informed his wife.

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The plea also sought directions to JJ Hospital to allow Rao’s wife and lawyer to see him through video-conference.

In a statement given by P Hemalatha — Rao’s wife based in Hyderabad — she said the family was not informed about Rao’s health. She added that she herself is 72 and not in a position to travel to Mumbai, but that she should be updated on the actual status of her husband’s health and a video conference with him should be arranged. “As Varavara Rao has already undergone 18 months of incarceration on fabricated charges and without any trial, he should be released immediately on bail,” the statement said.