Maharashtra: Elgar Parishad accused, poet P Varavara Rao tests Covid-19 positive

MUMBAI: Jailed poet, P Varavara Rao (79), accused in the Elgar Parishad case, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. He was admitted to JJ Hospital on Monday night. On Sunday, in an online press conference, his family, complaining of his deteriorating health, sought immediate medical help.
Rao has been in jail for 22 months and currently lodged at Taloja jail.
Hospital authorities said that Rao will be shifted to St George’s or GT Hospital this evening as JJ is a non-Covid hospital.
His defence team said that they will inform the Bombay high court about his diagnosis on Friday when his bail plea comes up for hearing.
Rao’s pleas for interim bail on medical grounds citing his susceptibility to the virus due to his age and ailments have been twice rejected by the special NIA court.
Rao’s family had said that in a call from jail on Saturday, Rao sounded incoherent and seemed to be hallucinating. The family wanted him to be shifted to a multi-speciality hospital. They complained of negligence by the state.
In May too Rao was admitted to JJ Hospital after he became unconscious in jail.
Rao’s family- wife P Hemalatha (72) and daughters P Sahaja, P Anala and P Pavana had said that there has been no improvement in his health and he was still in need of emergency heathcare.
They said that they were especially perturbed by the call on Saturday evening. "As an eloquent and articulate public speaker and writer in Telugu for over five decades, a Telugu teacher for four decades and known for his meticulous memory, this fumbling, incoherence and loss of memory were in themselves strange and frightening," the family had said.