Poet Varavara Rao’s counsel approached the Bombay High Court, urging the court to grant him provisional cash bail for one month, as arranging for solvent sureties would take time.
On February 22, the same Bench had granted bail to Mr. Rao, accused in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, for six months on medical grounds upon his furnishing a P. R. Bond of ₹50,000 and two solvent sureties in the like amount.
Senior advocate Anand Grover representing Mr. Rao, appeared before a Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and Manish Pitale. He requested the court to grant Mr. Rao bail on a cash bond as sureties were taking time to be arranged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The court directed him to serve a copy of his application to National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case.
The matter will be heard on February 25.
The court directed Mr. Rao to be discharged from the private hospital and said he would report to the nearest police station through a WhatsApp video call fortnightly. The other conditions levied by the court are: “The undertrial shall not leave the jurisdiction of the NIA Court at Mumbai on being released on bail. He shall reside within the said jurisdiction. He shall inform the NIA Court immediately about his place of residence within the said jurisdiction and his contact numbers, as also those of his relatives residing with him. On completion of period of six months, the undertrial shall surrender to the jail authorities, or he may apply for extension, depending upon his health condition supported by medical examination reports.”
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