KOCHI: As Majeed, alias Gassali, who is holed up somewhere in Kuwait, has moved the Kerala High Court for anticipatory bail, Kochi city police have decided to oppose the plea strongly on the grounds that his arrest and interrogation are a must to collect details about the women he had allegedly trafficked to the Gulf country violating emigration rules.
“Gassali has gone silent though he had earlier communicated to us that he would surrender and cooperate with the probe. Now, he has moved an anticipatory bail plea hiding in a foreign country like actor-producer Vijay Babu,” said Ernakulam South police station inspector Faisal M S, who is probing the case.
Meanwhile, the district sessions court has the dismissed bail plea of the first accused in the case, Ajumon A R, 35, Pathanapuram, Kollam. The police opposed the plea strongly stating that the investigation was in a preliminary stage and Gassali was still elusive.
Additional Sessions Judge Shibu Thomas rejected Ajumon’s bail petition, observing, “Several similar offences have already been reported against the accused persons. Moreover, the charges invoked against the petitioner have different dimensions and layers and it will take time to unearth the entire details relating to the offences allegedly committed by the accused.”
The hearing in Gassali’s anticipatory bail plea will be closely watched as circumstances in the cases of Vijay Babu and Gassali are the same except for the offences. Gassali has moved for pre-arrest bail like Vijay Babu after hiding in a foreign country.
In fact, granting of anticipatory bail to Vijay has resulted in a dissent by another single judge, Justice P V Kunhikrishnan, who observed that anticipatory bail cannot be moved and considered if the accused is abroad. He expressed his dissent while considering the anticipatory bail plea of Tiruvalla native Anu Mathew, who is working as a teacher in Kuwait and who has been charged under the Pocso Act.