The bail plea of nine accused individuals associated with the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), who were charged in connection with the murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan during April 2022 in Palakkad was rejected by the Kerala High Court.
Kerala High Court
Ernakulam: The bail plea of nine accused individuals associated with the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), who were charged in connection with the murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan during April 2022 in Palakkad was rejected by the Kerala High Court.
The two-bench judge of the High Court found sufficient grounds to believe that the allegations against the nine accused were prima facie true, leading to the denial of their bail applications.
The individuals denied bail include Saddam Hussain M K, Ashraf, Noushad M, Ashraf Moulavi, Ansari E P, Mohammad Ali K alias Kunjappu, Yahiya Koya Thangal (former state president of SDPI), Abdul Raoof C A (former state secretary of PFI), and Abdul Sathar (former general secretary of PFI).
A Division Bench comprising Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V M issued the order after reviewing the materials presented by the investigating agency, which included statements from witnesses and approvers.
The 105-page court order mentions about the former office PFI office bearers’ conspiracy to enact their ‘India 2047’ agenda of establishing an Islamic rule in India. The court order also stated that all the accused as part of their larger plan had supervised and organized the arms and physical training to PFI cadres in PFI office at the Periyar Valley campus and Erattupetta office on number of occasions. The accused had secret meetings at ‘Peace Valley’ for conducting arms training, as part of preparations for conducting terrorists’ acts.
The order mentions the crime conducted by each accused on a case-by-case manner. The order says that all the nine were part of the conspiracy hatched at various parts of Palakkad to target Hindu community leaders with the help of PFI cadres which has resulted in the murder of RSS activist Sreenivasan on 16-04-2022.
The murder, which occurred at Melamuri Junction in Palakkad town on April 16, 2022, was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) following allegations that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving communal violence and radicalisation efforts among PFI members.
The High Court however granted bail under stringent conditions to 17 others who were not directly involved with the murder.
