Former Delhi University professor Prof. Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba passed away at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. He was 57.
He was declared dead by the doctors at 8.36 p.m. on Saturday (October 12, 2024).
He was wheeled into the ICU on Friday evening (October 11, 2024) due to post-operative complications after a gall-bladder surgery a week ago, informed a family friend.
Prof. Saibaba, who was wheelchair-bound, was arrested on May 19, 2014 while he was on his way home from Delhi University, by a joint team of the Maharashtra police, Andhra Pradesh police, and the Intelligence Bureau, in a case pertaining to ties with Maoist organisations. He had been lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail since his arrest in the case till his release in March 2024.
In March 2017, a sessions court in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, convicted Prof. Saibaba and five other accused for indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country. They were also held guilty of possessing Naxal literature that they planned to circulate among underground Naxalites and the residents of Gadchiroli to provoke the people to resort to violence.
Prof. Saibaba was released from Nagpur Central Jail on March 7, 2024. He had spent as many as 3,592 days in prison.
Published – October 12, 2024 10:10 pm IST
