Kerala High Court denies bail to 7 PFI members in 2022 RSS leader murder case

The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected the bail pleas of seven Popular Front of India PFI members accused in the 2022 murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS leader SK Srinivasan in Palakkad districtAccording to news agency PTI the accused are also facing trial for allegedly inciting communal violence in Kerala and other parts of the countryA bench of justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and KV Jayakumar said that on careful consideration of the materials on record it was of the view that the prosecution has succeeded in showing that the allegations against the seven accused are prima facie trueSrinivasan a former district leader and officebearer of RSS was attacked by a sixmember gang at his motorbike shop in Melamuri Palakkad less than 24 hours after a PFI leader Subair was allegedly killed by Bharatiya Janata Party BJP workers in a nearby villageThe Kerala High Court noted that according to the records one of the seven accused had arranged the motorcycle used by the assailants to conduct a recce for locating the target Srinivasan and carrying out the terrorist actThe court also noted that the records indicated that two of the accused had conducted a recce of the target on April 15 2022Additionally several documents notices magazines and other items seized from the house of the another accused included the controversial question paper linked to the 2010 hand chopping case Professor TJ Josephs palm was chopped off in 2010 in Idukki district after he was accused of insulting Prophet Mohammed in a question paper for an internal examinationIn light of these factors the Kerala High Court ruled the seven accused are not entitled to be released on bailThe decision followed the accused persons plea challenging the National Investigation Agency NIA special courts refusal to grant them bailInitially 51 persons were named as accused in connection with the murder of Srinivasan on April 16 2022 One of the arrested suspects died while seven others remain abscondingThe charge sheets for the remaining accused were filed in two phases in July and December 2022During the investigation into the murder the Centre received intelligence suggesting that officebearers and members of PFI and its affiliates in Kerala had conspired to instigate communal violence and radicalise their cadre to carry out terrorist acts in Kerala and other parts of the country the high court saidIn September 2022 the Centre directed NIA to take over the investigation of the case against the accusedOn September 28 2022 the Centre declared PFI a banned organisationLast year NIA filed its chargesheets after which the accused filed their bail pleas before the special courtIn June the court granted bail to 17 of the accused in the case but denied relief to nine othersWith PTI inputs