New Delhi, April 16 The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking cancellation of bail of several members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) accused in the murder of RSS leader Srinivasan in Kerala in April 2022.
A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and N.K. Singh told the NIA to approach the jurisdictional special court or the Kerala High Court with its plea to cancel bail after the anti-terror agency submitted that the accused attempted to influence witnesses and violated other bail conditions.
Earlier, the Kerala High Court, in an order passed in June last year, had released the accused persons on conditional bail, including the conditions to not leave the state without the special court’s permission and to surrender their passports.
"In the event there is breach of any of these (bail) conditions or any other condition that may be imposed by the special court independently, it would be open to the prosecution to seek cancellation of the bail granted to the appellants before the special court only, without any further reference to this court," the high court had said.
The NIA, in April 2022, had arrested absconding accused Shihab aka Babu, a key member of the PFI, who was an integral part of the terror ecosystem and responsible for orchestrating the murder of Srinivasan.
Shihab had been on the run since the commission of the crime.
The anti-terror agency claimed that Shihab, acting in line with a conspiracy hatched by the PFI leaders, harboured Muhammed Hakeem, who, at the behest of PFI leadership, was allegedly responsible for the destruction of crucial evidence in the case. The agency had filed a charge sheet on March 17, 2023, against a total of 59 accused in the case. Subsequently, the NIA's absconder tracking team achieved a significant milestone by apprehending Saheer K.V., who had been absconding for a long time. The NIA said that so far, a total of 69 individuals have been identified as being involved in the conspiracy.
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