New Delhi, Aug 28 : A relative of poet Varavara Rao on Tuesday accused Pune Police of "forcing" him and his wife Hemalatha to sign a 'punchnama' in Marathi language.

Varavara Rao was arrested from his residence in Hyderabad by police from Pune and presented before a Nampally criminal court. Police are likely to shift 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 here.

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 land line 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."



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Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Jan 20 (PTI): Three people died and equal number of them were injured after the car they were travelling in allegedly collided head-on with a truck here on Monday, police said.

The incident occurred around 12.30 pm in Magadhampur village, Chincholi taluka, in this district, they said.

According to the police, the car was coming from Bidar to Dharur in Telangana when it collided with a truck.

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The deceased have been identified as Avinash (24), Abhishek (26), and Sanjeev (40). They were traveling in the car, and three others who were with them sustained injuries. They were immediately shifted to the nearest hospital, where they are undergoing treatment.

A case of the accident has been registered, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.

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