KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday extended the time limit imposed on the anticipatory bail, granted by the Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram to former DGP Siby Mathews till October 27. He is the fourth accused in a case relating to conspiracy to frame former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and others in the 1994 espionage case.
While granting bail to him, the sessions court had held that "after a period of 60 days from the date of this order, the petitioner has to resort to remedies provided in Section 437 or 439 of the CrPC or such other remedies as are advised to him." The order was issued on August 24.
When the petition filed by Siby Mathews challenging the Sessions Court's order came up for hearing, Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu submitted that the 60 days granted by the Sessions Court will expire on October 24. However, the CBI's counsel sought time to argue the matter. Then the counsel for the petitioner sought to extend the time period. Justice K Haripal accepted the request and posted the case for a hearing on October 27.
Siby Mathews contended that the time limit imposed on the pre-arrest bail granted to him ought to be set aside, as it was in violation of the law settled by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had held that an order granting bail should not be limited to a fixed period and the life of an order of anticipatory bail may continue till the end of the trial.
He submitted that he is fully cooperating with the investigation by the CBI New Delhi unit. It was relevant to note that the allegations related to incidents that had occurred in 1994. Therefore, the custodial interrogation of the petitioner may not be necessary to probe the matter. Hence, he sought to vacate the condition restricting the validity of anticipatory bail to a period of 60 days.