The Pune (Maharashtra State) Police on Tuesday arrested revolutionary writer and poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Pune police have arrested revolutionary writer and poet Varavara Rao from his residence in Gandhinagar in Hyderabad. Rao was arrested reportedly on charges of conspiring and attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Police teams along with local police conducted searches at the residence of revolutionary writer Varavara Rao, his daughters and others.
Varvara Rao has been produced at Nampally Court in Hyderabad after his mandatory medical check-up at the government-run Gandhi Hospital.
In June, police in Pune had allegedly recovered a letter mentioning a plan to assassinate PM Modi from the house of one of the five persons arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence as reported by NDTV.
The letter written by a person identified only as ”R” reportedly mentions a plot to kill the Prime Minister on the lines of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
It also referred to requirement of Rs. 8 crore to purchase a M-4 rifle and four lakh rounds to execute the plot. The letter reportedly mentions Varvara Rao’s name.
According to the media reports, Varvara Rao, who heads ”Veerasam”, an association of revolutionary writers, had strongly denied the allegations. He had said that all five arrested in the case were working for the betterment of downtrodden.
Who is Varavara Rao?
Varvara Rao whose full name Pendyala Varavara Rao is 78 years old social activist. Born to a Telugu Brahmin family, Rao has been writing poems since 1957. Varavara Rao was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) by the then Andhra Pradesh Congress government in October 1973 for his political and literary activity.
Varavara Rao was arrested again on 26 June 1975, on the eve of proclamation of Emergency. During Emergency, he was a detainee under the MISA itself. He was one of the few prisoners whose interviews with their relatives were restricted and their mail was subjected to stringent scrutiny.
On 26 December 1985, he was also jailed by the then N. T. Rama Rao government who had come to power after defeating Indian National Congress.
