The six-month bail that the Bombay High Court had awarded P Varavara Rao on February 22, 2021, was made permanent by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, allowing him to continue being free in the Bhima Koregaon case. Rao agrees not to abuse his freedom during this time period and to stay within the trial court’s territorial jurisdiction while the matter is still underway. He is no longer permitted by the court to contact potential witnesses or attempt to sway the investigation.
The court clarified that Varavara had been granted bail on the pretext of his age of over 82 years and on medical grounds. The court has also advised him to submit reports providing information about his medical treatments to NIA.
“The petitioner is currently 82 years old, was initially taken into custody on 20.08.2018 and was kept in house arrest. Since 2018, police have had the opportunity of custodial interrogation. We are not strictly concerned with that facet of the matter. The instant case is on grant of bail on medical conditions,” the order said.
Senior Attorney Anand Grover, who appeared on behalf of Rao, argued that no charges have been brought against his client and that no documents have been provided to him. Rao has Parkinson’s disease and a history of blood clotting, and he also mentioned that it will take at least ten years for the experiment to be finished.
However, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju claimed that Rao was attempting to postpone the trial by submitting a discharge motion.