KOCHI: The NIA court here on Friday dismissed the bail petition filed by Thwaha Fasal, who was arrested for Maoist links from Kozhikode last year. The court decided to deny bail to the journalism student from Kozhikode considering the nature and gravity of the case. Thwaha Fasal had filed the bail petition claiming that the items seized from the residence were mostly reading materials which were not proscribed by the government. He was behind the bar since November 1, 2019, and was taken into custody for interrogation by the Kerala Police and NIA multiple times.
Dismissing his bail petition, the court noted that the materials seized from the accused cannot be considered as mere reading materials of a journalism student. It has much more significance in the context of the case. According to the court, nature and gravity of the offence probed against the accused is more relevant than the number of days of judicial custody. “The petitioner is not entitled to be released on bail at this stage as there are materials to show that there was reasonable ground to believe that accusation against the petitioner is prima facie true,” the court observed.
On November 1 last year, a police patrolling team had found three youths at Peruman Perummal in Kozhikode around 6.45 pm under suspicious circumstances. The police team took Alan Shuhaib and Thwaha Fasal into custody while the third person identified as C P Usman escaped from the place. Police found pro-Maoist literature in their possession. The case was later taken over by the NIA for further probe.