Thoufeeq vs State Of Kerala

Shircy V, J

Application for regular bail.

The petitioner in Bail Application No.6180 of 2021 is the 25th accused and the petitioners in Bail Application No.6503 of 2021 are the 12th and 21st accused in Crime No.434 of 2021 of Cherthala Police Station, Alappuzha District registered for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 120(B), 94(B), 341, 324, 326, 307 and 302 r/w Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act. They have moved this application for their release on bail.

The prosecution allegation is as follows :-These petitioners are members of SDPI. The deceased was a member of BJP. There exists political rivalry between two groups. These petitioners along with other accused owing to their political enmity towards the deceased and his party, on 24.02.2021 formed an unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons with the intention to commit murder of the deceased and attacked him as well as his friends with deadly weapons and inflicted fatal injuries on the head of the deceased. His friends also sustained grievous injuries in the attack, due to political rivalry. Thereby, they have committed the aforesaid offences.

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as well the learned Public Prosecutor.

The learned counsel for the petitioners would submit they have been arrested on 07.07.2021, 09.07.2021 and 11.07.2021 respectively, though they have absolutely no participation in the alleged incident, in which the deceased Nandu R Krishna was murdered as well in the incident in which the fatal injuries were inflicted on his friends as alleged by the prosecution. The have been languishing in jail for no reason and hence this application.

The learned Public Prosecutor has submitted that now the investigation of case has progressed and split charge sheet has been submitted before the court below against 28 accused apprehended out of 40.

On hearing both sides and as revealed from the records available before me, regular bail has been granted by this court to most of the accused persons apprehended by the investigating agency. The weapon alleged have to be used by the assailants to cause murder of Nandu R Krishna as well to cause injuries to his friends have been recovered by the investigating agency. Though it is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the petitioners have no criminal backgrounds, it is pointed out by the learned Public Prosecutor that the accused No.25 is involved in three other crimes, and accused No.12 is involved in another crime. Of course, accused No.21 is not having any criminal antecedents. As the investigation of the case is completed as far as the accused arrested are concerned and split charge sheet has been laid down before the Judicial Magistrate and regular bail has been granted to most of the accused apprehended by the investigating agency, continued detention of these petitioners may not be necessary for investigation purpose. Therefore, considering the period of detention undergone by them in judicial custody as well the other circumstances involved, I am inclined to release them on bail subject to the following conditions :-

(i) The petitioners shall be released on bail on executing a bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees one lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the court having jurisdiction.

(ii) They shall appear before the Investigating Officer for interrogation as and when required by him, in writing.

(iii) The petitioners shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to  any  person acquainted with the  facts  of the case   so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any  police officer or tamper with the evidence.

(iv) The petitioners shall not commit any offence while on bail.

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the learned Magistrate/Judge is empowered to cancel the bail in accordance with the law.