MUMBAI: The 81-year-old Hyderabad-based poet and activist Varavara Rao, who is accused in the Elgar Parished case has been shifted to Sir JJ hospital due to his deteriorating health.
Rao family along with several writers and activists had asked the Maharashtra government to immediately shift the ailing revolutionary.
Dr Ranjeet Mankeshwar, Dean of Sir JJ hospital confirmed that Rao has been brought to the hospital and the doctors are evaluating his health.
Rao’s wife, Hemalatha, and daughters, Sahaja, Anala and Pavana, were worried about his health after a phone call with him on last Saturday. His wife Hemlata said, her husband appeared to be in a state of delirium and hallucination, as he was talking about the funeral of his father and mother, the events that happened seven decades and four decades ago respectively.
“His co-prisoner took the phone from him and informed us that he is not able to walk, go to the toilet and brush his teeth on his own,” she said demanding immediate medical help and release from the prison.
Earlier in a today, Jitendra Awhad, NCP minister in Maharashtra also demanded that Rao be shifted to a hospital. In his tweet, Awhad had said, “We are extremely worried about Varvara Rao's health condition. His possession is under Home Ministry of Central Government and not under the Maharashtra Government. We appeal to the Central Government to urgently shift him to a hospital,” he said tagging to Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. Varavara Rao is lodged in Taloja jail in Mumbai.
Rao was earlier admitted to Sir JJ hospital after a complaint of giddiness but later he was discharged. The jail authority in Taloja refused to admit that Rao is unwell and need urgent medical help.