HC rejects bail application to accused in Ramalingam murder case

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court dismissed a bail application filed by 10 accused in the murder case of a Kumbakonam-based man named Ramalingam who was killed in 2019 after he criticised a section saying that they were involving forced conversions.

The bench comprising Justice PN Prakash and RN Teekaa Raman dismissed the criminal appeal petition filed by Mohammed Asarudeen, Mohammed Riyas, S Nijam Ali, Sarbudeen, Mohamed Riswan, Mohamed Faruk, Myden Ahmed Shali, Mohammed Thoufik, Mohammed Farvees, and Towheed Batcha.

The petitioners sought direction to set aside the order of the Special Court for NIA Cases, (Special Court for Exclusive Trial for Bomb Blasts Cases, Poonamallee, Chennai) rejecting their bail application.

“From the report of the trial judge as well as from the records perused by us, we are able to see that the accused themselves had agreed to proceed with the trial without insisting upon the examination of the protected witnesses first. Therefore, they cannot complain before us that bail should be granted to them for the failure of the prosecution to examine the protected witnesses first, ” the bench held.

The court also noted that the materials gathered by the national investigating agency and placed before the trial court along with the evidence of the witnesses so far examined do not pass muster with the conditions stipulated in the proviso to Section 43D (5) ibid for the grant of bail to the appellants.

The judges also directed the trial court to take immediate steps to complete the examination of 2 protected witnesses and complete the cross-examination of witnesses without any delay.