Chandrasekharan murder case: SC seeks trail court records to review bail plea of accused

New Delhi, Nov 17 The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the TP Chandrasekharan murder case is a serious homicide matter and questioned how bail could be granted “in haste” without examining the full case records.

The Bench said it must review the trial court documents, including witness testimonies, before considering the bail plea. The court also declined to grant interim bail to the petitioner at this stage.

The Bench directed the authorities to produce within 15 days all materials related to the case, including deposition records, witness statements, and relevant trial documents.

The matter has now been adjourned for further hearing after the compilation of these records.

The bail petition was filed by Jyothi Babu, an accused in the 2012 murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader TP Chandrasekharan.

Incidentally, last year, the Kerala High Court, while sentencing 12 men in this case to rigorous life imprisonment, termed it a "barbaric" crime.

All the accused were either CPI(M) activists or those allegedly hired by them to eliminate Chandrasekharan, who quit the CPI(M) and formed his own party.

The case saw heated arguments in the Supreme Court, with strong objections from Chandrasekharan’s widow, K.K. Rema, who is now an MLA.

Appearing for Rema, her counsel argued that the state government had been “playing hide-and-seek” by failing to file a proper response to the bail petition.

He contended that granting bail in such a grave political assassination case would undermine public faith in the justice system.

Responding to the allegation, Jyothi Babu’s counsel shot back, asking what “game” the State was allegedly playing and accusing Rema’s side of playing to the gallery.

The state government’s counsel, too, maintained that Rema’s accusations were exaggerated and politically motivated.

In her affidavit before the Supreme Court, Rema asserted that the accused in the case had already received “disproportionate leniency” in earlier stages, and further concessions would erode public trust in judicial institutions.

She said granting bail to Jyothi Babu would send a dangerous and demoralising message, especially in a case involving brutal political murder.

Jyothi Babu approached the Supreme Court, claiming deteriorating health and seeking bail on medical grounds.

However, the court made it clear that such arguments cannot be considered without first scrutinising the trial record in full.

The case will be taken up again after the documents are furnished.

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