SC grants bail to two accused of murdering sitting MLA, former lawmaker in 2018

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to two accused in a case in which a sitting and a former MLA were killed in Andhra Pradesh in September 2018 by those allegedly belonging to the Communist Party of India MaoistThe apex court observed it is unable to form an opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing the accusations against the two accused of commission of offence under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act were prima facie trueA bench of Justices A S Oka and Rajesh Bindal set aside the December 2020 order of the high court of Andhra Pradesh at Amravati which had refused to grant them bail in the caseThe top court noted in its verdict that the incident took place on September 23 2018 when Kidari Sarveswara Rao the then member of the Legislative Assembly and whip of the Telugu Desam Party in the House and Siveri Soma a former MLA belonging to the TDP were killed near village Livitiputtu in VisakhapatnamIt noted the allegation that 45 accused persons belonging to CPI Maoist stopped the convoy of vehicles of the two leaders and killed both of themIt noted the case was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency the federal antiterror probe agencyTaking the material against the appellants as it is and without considering the defence of the appellants we are unable to form an opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against the appellants of commission of offence under the UAPA are prime facie true the bench saidThe top court made it clear the findings recorded in its judgment are only prima facie observations recorded for the limited purpose of examining the issue before it and the trial in the case shall be conducted uninfluenced by these observationsThe bench noted the appellants are in custody for fourandahalfyears and charges have not been framedIt is obvious that while granting bail stringent conditions will have to be imposed We propose to leave it to the special judge to impose appropriate conditions it said and set aside the high court orderThe bench directed that both the appellants be produced before the special judge at Vijayawada within a week who shall release them on bail on appropriate conditions determined by him after hearing the partiesAlso readSunstroke deaths in Maharashtra MNS chief Raj Thackeray slams Maha govt for political selfishnessIt noted the appellants were arrested in October 2018 and a charge sheet was filed against them in April 2019The apex court said there are 79 accused in the charge sheet and about 144 witnesses have been named in itIt noted the allegation against one of the appellants is that he provided shelter and logistical support to the coshyaccused for facilitating the offenceAbut the other appellant the court said it was alleged that he had association with the first appellant and was found in possession of certain pamphlets and literature of the CPI MaoistThe bench said in any case both of them were not present at the time of the commission of offenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever