MADURAI: The Madras High Court Bench at Madurai has granted anticipatory bail to Peter Van Geit, founder of Chennai Trekking Club, who was stated to be at large after the Kurangani forest fire on March 10 that claimed 23 lives.
Allowing the anticipatory bail petition, Justice G R Swaminathan directed the petitioner to cooperate with police for the inquiry in the case.Earlier, in his application, Peter, who was a Belgium national, submitted that he was arraigned as the first accused in the FIR filed by Kurangani police under various provisions of IPC and Tamil Nadu Forest Act.
Peter contended that he was not the organiser of the trekking event and initially his name was not mentioned in the FIR. He argued that the trekkers volunteered themselves for trekking and he was in no way connected with the tragedy. He also submitted that the trekking had been done in the usual route and the fire alert had been given to forest officials by Forest Survey of India.
He was implicated in the case only because he was a foreigner. Hence, he sought anticipatory bail. During the hearing, the prosecution opposed the anticipatory bail plea as he was at large and would dilute investigation of the case.