K'taka cops take custody of Varavara Rao in naxal attack case

Pune/ Bengaluru: The Karnataka police Wednesday took custody of Telugu poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, in connection with the 2005 Tumkur Naxal attack case.

Rao is currently in judicial custody here.

A senior police officer said the Bengaluru police took Rao’s custody.

On February 6, 2005, naxal leader Saket Rajan alias Prem was killed in an encounter in Chikkmagaluru district of Karnataka. In retaliation, naxals attacked the Karnataka State Reserve police (KSRP) battalion in Venkammanahalli in Tumkur district five days later and killed seven KRSP personnel and a civilian.

Varavara Rao had addressed public meetings in the Chikkmagaluru area in early 2003.

Rao was arrested by Pune police on August 28 last year in the Elgar Parishad case with activists Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves and Gautam Navalakha.

Rao was accused of having a nexus with top fugitive Maoist operatives and of being actively involved in the procurement of arms and ammunition, recruitment of students and funding of Maoist activities.

Police said the Maoist-backed Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, and the speeches at the event aggravated the violence at the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial in Pune district the next day.