ISRO frame-up case: Kerala HC grants interim bail to accused former police officers
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The court also extended the interim bail granted to former Central Intelligence Officer P.S. Jayaprakash for two weeks.
The Kerala High Court on Monday granted interim anticipatory bail of two weeks to S. Vijayan and Thampi S. Durga Dutt, former Kerala police officers and accused in the case relating to the hatching a conspiracy to frame former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and others in the espionage case.
Justice Ashok Menon passed the interim order on the petition seeking anticipatory bail filed by the two.
When the petition came up for hearing, Assistant Solicitor General P. Vijayakumar, appearing for the CBI was not in a position to confirm when they would be arrested. Therefore, the court said that it was granting interim bail to the two. The court ordered that the petitioners be released on interim bail on their executing a bond for ₹50,000 with the two solvent sureties to the sum if the CBI arrested the petitioners.
The court, however, added that the petitioner would have to cooperate with the investigation.
The court also extended the interim bail granted to former Central Intelligence Officer P.S. Jayaprakash for two weeks.
The CBI argued that if anticipatory bail is granted to the accused, it would cause serious prejudice to the investigation into the case. It contended that the then-police officers had played an active role in concocting an espionage case after hatching a conspiracy with the other accused in the FIR and other unknown persons. “The petitioners were still very influential as they had once served as officers in the Kerala police. If bail was granted to them,it would create fear in the minds of probable witnesses who may be otherwise willing to speak the truth. Besides, these former police officers were well versed in the investigation technique,” the CBI argued.
The petitioners argued that they had only acted in the best interests of the police department and they had not done any excesses on any accused. The accused in the espionage case were produced before the Magistrate court and when they were questioned by the Magistrate, they did not make any complaints of torture against the petitioners.
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