MADURAI: The Madras High Court today dismissed bail pleas of two suspected Maoists arrested in connection with alleged arms training conducted at Murugamalai in Theni district in 2007.
Rejecting the petitions of J Vivek alias Vivekanandan and N Ranjit, lodged in Central prison here, Justice K Kalyanasundraram of the Madurai bench directed the Assistant Sessions Court in Periyakulam to complete the prosecution of the accused within three months.
According to the prosecution, cases under IPC, Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act were filed in June, 2007 on a complaint from one V Muthu that he witnessed arms training by a group of youths at Murugamalai Oothuparai near Periyakulam in Theni district.
CB-CID police, which took up the investigation, seized some Maoist ideology books and arms from various places in the region in the next few months.
It later arrested several persons, including Vivek and Ranjit. Vivek was on the run for nearly five years and Ranjit for about three and half years from the date of registration of FIR.
Besides, non-bailable warrants were pending against co-accused Velmurugan, Palanivel and Karthick from March 8, 2012 after they jumped bail.
The trio were at present in the forest of tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka carrying lethal weapons and spreading Maoists ideologies among tribal people, the prosecution alleged.
Hence, if the court freed the petitioners on bail, they would flee and join with the absconding co-accused and wage war against the government, it contended.