2005 Tumakuru Maoist attack: Varavara Rao remanded in 2-day judicial custody

Rao, who was brought from Pune on a transit warrant issued on Wednesday, was produced before a magistrate’s court in Tumakuru and was remanded in prison for two days.

He had been named by police as being among 61 Maoists and their sympathisers linked to an attack on a Karnataka State Reserve Police unit at Venkatamanahalli village, on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

The chargesheet stated that the attack was instigated by Rao and Telugu balladeer Gaddar.

The Tumakuru police initially brought only 19 of the 61 accused to trial, while 42 others, including Rao and Gaddar, were not chargesheeted. All the 19 accused brought to trial were acquitted by a Tumakuru sessions court on October 29, 2011. In the course of a recent hearing of an appeal filed in 2012 by the Karnataka police against the trial court’s decision, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court in June sought action against those not brought to trial.

The police on June 11 filed a chargesheet against the remaining 42 persons.