Three accused in alleged political murder of SDPI leader KS Shan granted bail by Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted bail to three accused in the alleged political murder of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) State Secretary KS Shan in December 2021 [Ajith & Ors. v State of Kerala]..Justice P Gopinath granted bail noting that that the only offence made out against them was under section 212 (harbouring an offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)."I am of the opinion that the petitioners are entitled to bail especially on account of the fact that as things stand today, the only allegation against them is that of having committed an offence under Section 212 of the Indian Penal Code which, it is not disputed, is a bailable offence," the Court said..The Court did, however, imposed the following conditions for bail as it noted that the release of the petitioners on bail may result in a retaliatory attack and also in view of the fact that the law and order situation in Alappuzha district, where the attack took place, is still volatile. Petitioners shall execute bonds for sums of ₹50,000 each with two solvent sureties each for the like sum;Petitioners shall report before the investigating officer as and when called upon to do so;Petitioners shall not enter the Alappuzha District, except for the purpose of complying with any instruction issued by the investigating officer ;Petitioners shall not attempt to or to influence or intimidate any witness;Petitioners shall surrender their passport, if they possess one, before the Jurisdictional Magistrate; Petitioners shall not get involved in any other crime while on bail..The bail application was moved by accused nos. 8, 12 and 13 in the murder of Shan where attackers allegedly rammed the scooter Shan was riding with a car before inflicting over 40 wounds with deadly weapons. Shan succumbed to his injuries on December 18, 2021.The first petitioner, an ambulance driver, stands accused of transporting the accused persons or some among them on December 19 in the ambulance.The allegation against the second petitioner is that he helped to harbour the accused persons in his wife's house at Thrissur while the third petitioner is alleged to have helped in providing food to the accused persons, while they were holed up in Thrissur..Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu, instructed by advocate Sruthy N Bhat, appeared for the petitioners and contended that the only offence attracted in the case is a bailable one. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's decision in Rasiklal v. Kishore to contend that where an accused is alleged to have committed only a bailable offence, it is his right to be released on bailIt was further pointed out that even according to the prosecution, the petitioners were not part of the conspiracy and at best the prosecution case is that they helped to harbour the accused persons..However, the Public Prosecutor submitted that the murder was pre-planned and was on account of political rivalry. He opposed the grant of bail to the petitioners alleging that there is every chance of a retaliatory attack and the law and order situation in the area is still volatile. However, he conceded that the investigation conducted thus far does not show that the petitioners were part of the original conspiracy..The Court decided to adhere to the ratio laid down in Rasiklal and granted bail to the three accused..On December 18, SDPI state secretary KS Shan was hacked to death allegedly by RSS workers. Within 12 hours, BJP's OBC Morcha State secretary Renjith Sreenivasan was also killed at his home allegedly by SDPI workers which is believed to have been in retaliation.Both Shan and Sreenivas had contested in the 2016 Assembly polls from Ambalappuzha and Alappuzha constituencies respectively. Shan had also contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Alappuzha seat.The twin political murders had rocked the State and led to the State police chief Anil Kant issuing a high-alert order. .[Read Order]