CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to DMK MP TRVS Ramesh who has been imprisoned in connection with the murder of an employee of his cashew factory in Panruti in Cuddalore district.
Justice M Nirmal Kumar issued the orders granting bail to the MP representing Cuddalore in the Lok Sabha. He was remanded to judicial custody after he surrendered before a local court on October 11.
Ramesh and five of his staff were booked over the murder of the labourer Govindarasu of Melmampattu village for allegedly stealing cashew from the factory owned by the MP.
The incident created a lot of heat in Cuddalore district as initially the Kadampuliyur police registered a case of suspicious death after Govindarasu was found dead on September 20. The factory managers had stated that he committed suicide.
Enraged family members and relatives, supported by the local PMK leaders, resorted to protests demanding registration of a murder case and arresting the MP and other staff for allegedly beating Govindarasu to death on false charges.
The post mortem was conducted by a team of doctors from JIPMER, Puducherry following a High Court order.
Meanwhile, the probe was transferred to CB-CID and the FIR was altered to murder.
While the police nabbed five persons allegedly involved in the murder, there was no attempt to take action against the MP.
Owing to public outrage, he had to surrender before the court on October 11.
He had alleged that certain persons, affected by his electoral victory, were trying to extract political mileage by using the FIR in which he was named.
Despite the High Court granting bail, Ramesh may not be able to walk out of the prison on Friday itself since the copy of the order would not be served due to administrative reasons. It may reach only after the weekend.
He is expected to be released from the prison on Monday.