Pendyala Varavara Rao a key conspirator of Bhima-Koregaon violence

Pendyala Varavara Rao

Producing Hyderabad-based revolutionary writer and top Maoist ideologue Pendyala Varavara Rao before a court on Sunday, the Pune police claimed that he was a key conspirator in the Bhima-Koregaon case and had a direct connection with Maoists. The cops further said that some of the letters recovered from Rao revealed that he had plans to procure weapons via the Nepal and Manipur routes.

Just a day after the police arrested Rao from Telangana, a special court on Sunday remanded him in police custody till November 26. Charges under sections 121 (waging war) and 124A (sedition) have been registered against him, about which the Pune police have informed the additional chief secretary (home).

The remand copy submitted to the court mentions, "Rao is accused of conspiring the assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi just the way Rajiv Gandhi was killed. After the Surajgadh Maoist attack, which had taken place under the leadership of Surendra Gadling, Rao had written to him asking him to carry out similar attacks in Asur, Pamedh and Bheji areas. For this, funds had also been raised." The copy further mentions that the recovered letters reveal Rao's role in supply of arms and that he was planning to procure some as well.

However, Rao informed the court, "The way the cops have detained me is wrong. I could have appealed to the Supreme Court, but they arrested me before that."

District government pleader, Ujjwala Pawar argued, "Rao is a key conspirator in the case and has direct connection to the CPI(M). Their main intention is to intimidate people and wage wars against the government. The police need Rao's custody as they have come to know about the details of his communications with underground Maoists and wanted Maoist Ganapathy as well. Some code language and pet names have also been used in the letters, which needs to be investigated. They also need to check email communications and social media sites. Rao had also sent some money to Gadling at the time of demonetisation, which also needs to be probed."

Meanwhile, defence lawyers Rohan Nahar and Rahul Deshmukh argued, "Rao is a revolutionary writer and is associated with the Viplava Rachayitala Sangham in Andhra Pradesh. He has been falsely implicated in the case. On one hand, the cops are claiming that they want to probe email communications that have code language, while on the other they claim to have some letters. They are misleading the court."

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