Former DU professor G N Saibaba, set free in Maoist link case, dies from health complications 

Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba died at a hospital due to post-operative complications, seven months after he was acquitted in an alleged Maoist links case. He was 54. 

Saibaba was suffering from gall bladder infection and was operated on two weeks ago but developed complications subsequently. He breathed his last around 9 pm on October 12. 

He was admitted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad for the last 20 days. 

In March, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba and five others in the alleged Maoist links case, noting that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against him. 

The High Court overturned his sentence, terming the sanction for prosecution granted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as “null and void”. 

The court stated that the sanction granted under the UAPA by the state authorities lacked proper consideration. It described the report submitted by the independent authority, which recommended invoking UAPA provisions, as a “cryptic and concise half-page communication”. 

Following his acquittal, the wheelchair-bound Saibaba walked out of the Nagpur Central Jail after 10 years. 

The former DU professor had alleged in August that he was not taken to a hospital for nine months by authorities despite the left side of his body getting paralysed and was just given painkillers in the Nagpur Central Jail, where he was lodged since his arrest in the case in 2014. 

Saibaba had been lodged in jail since 2017 following his conviction by a trial court in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Before that, he was in prison from 2014 to 2016 before being granted bail. 

(With inputs from PTI)