Varavara Rao, wife forced to sign punchnama in Marathi, alleges relative

Hours after prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from his residence in Hyderabad on Tuesday, a relative of Rao accused Pune Police of "forcing" him and his wife Hemalatha to sign a 'punchnama' in the Marathi language.

Rao was arrested by the Pune police for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented before a Nampally criminal court. He was shifted to the government-run Gandhi Hospital for a medical check-up. He is likely to be produced before a court here before shifting him to Pune.

"Both Rao and his wife Hemalatha don't know Marathi...they were forced to sign on the punchnama written in Marathi," journalist N Venugopal, the son-in-law of Rao, told the media.

According to Venugopal, as per the law, the punchnama -- a document prepared by police and signed by respectable witnesses -- should be in a language the accused is familiar with. "Without any search warrant, they (police) entered his house, snatched away cell phones. They also disconnected the landline phone and intercom and kept Rao incommunicado for eight hours," he claimed. 

As for Rao's health, Venugopal said, "He is 78-year-old, has so many ailments and needs regular medicines."

A police team from Pune arrested the revolutionary writer after searching his house and the houses of his family members and friends including a journalist.

In June, police in Pune had allegedly recovered a letter mentioning a plan to assassinate Modi from the house of one of the five persons arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

The letter was 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 the requirement of Rs 8 crore to purchase an M-4 rifle and four lakh rounds to execute the plot. The letter reportedly mentions Varvara Rao`s name.

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 the downtrodden.

Rao has been writing poetry since 1957 and is the founder member of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers' Association). He was arrested in October 1973 under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

He was released and arrested on more than one occasions between 1975 and 1986 in different cases, including the 1986 Ramnagar conspiracy case in which he was acquitted in 2003 after 17 years.

The writer was again arrested on August 19, 2005, under the AP Public Security Act and sent to Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad. The case was struck down under the Public Security Act on March 31, 2006, and Rao obtained bails in all other cases.