Four Days After HC Refused him Bail, Saibaba’s Mother Passes Away

Saibaba was sentenced to life in 2014 on charges of having Maoist links.

Professor of Delhi University, GN Saibaba. 

(Photo: IANS)

The mother of imprisoned former Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba succumbed to cancer on Sunday, four days after the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court denied bail to Saibaba, who was sentenced to life in 2014 on charges of having Maoist links, reported The Indian Express.

According to the report, Saibaba’s lawyer Akash Sorde had tried to organise a video call between Saibaba and his mother Gokarakonda Suryavathi on Friday, 31 July, after doctors said that the ailing 74-year-old would not survive for more than 48 hours.

But all their attempts reportedly went in vain.

“We tried to contact Anup Kumar Kumre, the Superintendent of the Nagpur Central Prison, where Saibaba is lodged, so that his mother could see him as her last wish. But there was no response to the calls.”

Akash Sorde to <i>The Indian Express.</i>

Saibaba’s wife Vasantha Suryavathi, who could not travel to Hyderabad from Delhi due to restrictions, said that she was grieved by the loss of a ‘kind and caring woman’ and disappointed by her own inability to fulfill the last wishes of her ailing mother-in-law.

Saibaba had asked for a 45-day bail to see his mother. He had also cited co-morbitities that could put him at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 in his bail application.

Special Public Prosecutor Prashant Sathanathan had argued against Saibaba’s bail saying that his brother was with the ailing mother and that the two were residing inside a containment zone in Hyderabad.