After getting bail from Madras High Court in PFI conspiracy case, Madurai lawyer M Mohammed Abbas arrested in another case

Two days after the Madras High Court granted bail to Madurai-based lawyer M Mohammed Abbas, he was arrested again for two unrelated FIRs registered against him last month..Abbas was earlier arrested and booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) on charges of being an alleged member of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI)..Authorities at the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai handed him over to the Madurai Police on Thursday at around 11 AM, after the police produced a prisoner transfer (PT) warrant issued by a local judicial magistrate on August 2..On behalf of Abbas, Advocates R Vivekanathan and S Jim Raj Milton moved the High Court this morning seeking an urgent hearing of a fresh habeas corpus petition filed by Abbas’ brother. They anticipated that the Madurai Police might arrest Abbas even before he was permitted to walk out of prison after being granted bail in the PFI case.The Bench of Justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel asked the lawyers to get the matter numbered and to mention after the lunch hour. Meanwhile, Abbas was handed over to the Madurai Police..The lawyers mentioned the matter against at 2:30 PM and told the bench that the prison authorities had erred in handing over Abbas’ custody to the Madurai Police, as the bail bond had already been executed before the PT warrant reached the prison authorities.Vivekananthan also said that he had sent an email to the prison authorities on Wednesday at around 2:30 AM, informing them of the bail bond having been executed and sureties having been furnished in Abbas’ case. He also said that he personally went to the Puzhal prison superintendent’s office at 8 AM this morning with a representation..However, Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak and Special Public Prosecutor R Karthikeyan told the Court that as per their instructions, the prison authorities had received Vivekananthan’s email only later in the day on Thursday.The Madurai Bar Association also made a representation urging the Court to send out a “strong message,” saying that Abbas’ arrest by the Madurai Police was deliberate and was meant to “subvert the High Court’s bail order.”.The Bench then asked the State government to put on affidavit details explaining the trajectory of events, including the specific time at which the bail order was communicated to the Puzhal prison authorities, the time at which the PT warrant was issued and received etc.The High Court will hear the matter on Friday, August 4..Opposing Abbas' bail in the earlier case, the NIA had produced an audio clip containing parts of a phone conversation between Abbas and some other persons, which it said clearly implicated Abbas.However, the Court while granting him bail said that the case diary and the audio clip did not reveal any overt act against Abbas..The NIA subsequently challenged the bail order before the Supreme Court and sought a stay on the same. The apex court clarified that it cannot provide a stay during the mentioning stage, more so without even reviewing the case files.