STATE OF KERALA Vs. RAJENDRA PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These petitions seek to quash the bail granted to ten accused in S.C. No.527/2022 on the files of the Additional Sessions Court-III, Alappuzha. The orders granting bail are challenged as being perverse, issued without any application of mind and in an arbitrary exercise of judicial discretion.

(2.) The prosecution case relates to the murder of a person by the name of Shan on 18/12/2021, due to a political enmity. According to the prosecution, the accused, who are members of an organisation called RSS, had, due to an enmity, in connection with an attack on two other persons, apart from the murder of an RSS leader earlier, conspired to commit the murder of the said Sri. Shan. Pursuant to the said conspiracy, accused 2 to 6 formed themselves into an unlawful assembly and after following the deceased in a vehicle and collided with his scooter at 5.50 PM on 18/12/2021. When Sri. Shan fell down he was brutally attacked, inflicting serious injuries and later, at 11.30 PM on the same day, he succumbed to the injuries and the accused thus committed the offences under Sec. 120(b), 109, 115, 143, 147, 148, 149, 324 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 apart from Sec. 27(1) of the Arms Act, 1959.

(3.) Pursuant to the registration of Crime No.621/2021 of Mannancherry Police Station, the first accused was arrested in the early morning of the next day i.e, 19/12/2021, while accused 2, to 6 were arrested on 25/12/2021 and accused 7 and 8 were arrested on 26/12/2021. The ninth and tenth accused were arrested on 06/02/2023 and 18/10/2022 respectively. Thereafter, the accused were granted bail on different dates on the basis of applications filed by them separately. Accused 1 to 4 were granted bail on 24/12/2022, the fifth accused on 3/12/2022, the sixth accused on 7/12/2022, the seventh accused on 18/11/2022, the eighth accused on 20/10/2022, the ninth accused on 21/2/2023, and the tenth accused on 29/11/2022. The following tabular column depicts the petitions in which bail was granted to each of the accused, the petitions which were preferred by the State to cancel the bail and the petitions filed by the State before this Court in relation to the respective accused. <FRM>JUDGEMENT_76_LAWS(KER)12_2024_1.html</FRM>