KOCHI : The Kerala High Court has rejected the bail plea of nine accused individuals associated with the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), who were charged in connection with the murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan in Palakkad. However, the court granted bail to 17 other accused persons who were not directly involved in the murder.
A Division Bench comprising Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V M issued the order after reviewing the materials presented by the investigating agency, which included statements from witnesses and approvers. The court found sufficient grounds to believe that the allegations against the nine accused were prima facie true, leading to the denial of their bail applications.
The individuals denied bail include Saddam Hussain M K, Ashraf, Noushad M, Ashraf Moulavi, Ansari E P, Mohammad Ali K alias Kunjappu, Yahiya Koya Thangal (former state president of SDPI), Abdul Raoof C A (former state secretary of PFI), and Abdul Sathar (former general secretary of PFI).
The murder, which occurred at Melamuri Junction in Palakkad town on April 16, 2022, was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) following allegations that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving communal violence and radicalisation efforts among PFI members to commit terrorist acts in Kerala and elsewhere in India. Chargesheets against 26 accused were filed before the NIA Special Court on July 13, 2022.
The bail conditions imposed include mandatory GPS tracking of their mobile phones round-the-clock, with their phones synchronised with that of the NIA investigating officer to monitor their whereabouts. Additionally, they are prohibited from leaving the state without Special Court permission, must surrender any passports, if held, and are required to maintain a single mobile number while informing the police about their residential address.