Bhima Koregaon case: Varavara Rao taken to hospital after complaining of difficulties in breathing

New Delhi: Activist Varavara Rao, who was in police custody in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, has been taken to a hospital after he complained of difficulties in breathing. 

On Sunday, the activist was sent to police custody till November 26 by Pune sessions court. He has now been taken to Sassoon Hospital.

Rao was arrested by Pune Police from his residence in Hyderabad on Saturday after his house arrest ended on November 17. He was under house arrest since August for having alleged links with CPI (Maoist) in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence.

Earlier on October 25, the Hyderabad High Court had extended his house arrest for three weeks.  

In August, police arrested five left-wing activists, after raiding their homes in several states for suspected Maoist links over the Elgar Parishad meeting which was held a day before the violence.

The police raided the homes of the activists and lawyers from five states - Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, Bharadwaj in Faridabad and Gautam Navalakha in Delhi. 

In a media briefing, the police had released details of seized letters related to five activists arrested in June in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence.

The police also claimed they have "conclusive proof" to link Left-wing activists arrested in June and this week to Maoists, saying one of them spoke of a "Rajiv Gandhi-type event to end Modi-raj".