PALAKKAD: A special court in Mannarkad on Saturday cancelled the bail granted to 12 of the 16 accused in the Madhu lynching case. The Special Court for SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act annulled the bail after accepting the contention of special public prosecutor Rajesh M Menon that the accused had influenced the witnesses.
Earlier, 14 of the 16 witnesses had turned hostile during the trial in the case of the tribal youth’s murder. Meanwhile, the court order stated that counsel for some of the accused “cautioned” the judge about the possible consequences if the bail granted by the High Court is cancelled.
The counsel for accused 3, 6, 8 to 10, 12 and 16 cautioned the judge that he would be answerable to the charge memo that may be issued by the HC and that bad news would be published in media along with the judge’s photographs, the order stated. “I believe that the HC will never unnecessarily harass subordinate officers if the order is supported by valid reasons,” the judge said in the order.
Accused contacted witnesses on several occasions, says prosecution
The court has cancelled the bail granted to Marakkar (2nd accused), Shamsudheen (3rd), Aneesh (4th), Radhakrishnan (5th), Aboobacker (6th), Siddique (7th), Najeeb (9th) Baijumon (1oth), Abdul Kareem (11th), Sajeev (12th), Biju (15th) and Muneer (16th). While Aneesh, Siddique and Biju, who were present in the court on Saturday, were remanded in custody, non-bailable warrants were issued against the other nine persons.
While granting bail in May 2018, the High Court had set a condition that the accused shall not contact the witnesses. The prosecution pointed out that of the 16 witnesses examined, only two had supported the prosecution case while others turned hostile.The court found that the call details produced by the prosecution revealed that the accused persons contacted the witnesses on several occasions and there were instances in which the witnesses themselves had contacted the accused. In some cases, the accused contacted the witnesses through mediators. The prosecution submitted evidence before the court showing some witnesses were contacted 63 times by the accused. Moreover, the prosecution pointed out that many witnesses were working in the houses of the accused and were dependant on them.
“The accused promised benefits to the witnesses to change their statements in court. Those who were not ready to change their statements were threatened,” said the prosecution. After many witnesses turned hostile, a witness protection committee was formed in the case on July 16, 2022. Since the High Court has stated that the trial should be completed by August 31, examination of the remaining witnesses is expected to be speeded up now.