On the 15th of December, up to 19 Members of the Revolutionary Writers’ Association (Virasam) were taken into preventive custody by the indian police. This happened shortly before a protest of Virasam against the World Telugu Conference should take place. The Chairman of Virasam, Varavara Rao, who also was detained, told the reactionary indian press: "The State government is organising the conference to promote Bhramnical ideology and encouraging capitalists. These policies will have a bad impact on modern poets and budding writers".

In the evening of the same day, all mentioned Members were released from preventive custody.