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SC refuses to cancel ex-mayor, corporator’s bail in Bengaluru riots case
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy dismissed the petition filed by Congress’ Pulakeshinagar MLA R Akhanda Srinivasmurthy, who had challenged the grant of bail to Raj and Zakir by the Karnataka high court in February.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Congress legislator’s plea and refused to cancel bail of former Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj and former corporator Abdul Raqueeb Zakir in a case connected to the 2020 Bengaluru riots, which claimed four lives.
A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy dismissed the petition filed by Congress’ Pulakeshinagar MLA R Akhanda Srinivasmurthy, who had challenged the grant of bail to Raj and Zakir by the Karnataka high court in February.
“In view of the submissions of parties and taking into consideration the alleged role and the period for which they were in custody, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order of the high court,” said the bench in its order.
On August 11 last year, an angry mob, enraged over an alleged derogatory social media post shared by Srinivasamurthy’s nephew, burnt down more than 60 vehicles as well as DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations in Bengaluru apart from the house of the MLA. The violence claimed four lives and left several injured.
Appearing for Srinivasmurthy, senior advocates Devadatt Kamat and R Basant argued that Raj harbored ill-will against the MLA due to political reasons and created the riots on the pretext of the social media post by his nephew. The lawyers contended that Raj and Zakir were the chief conspirators who incited a mob to set ablaze the houses of the MLA and his sister. The mob also burnt down two police stations. The lawyers added that the two could manipulate the witnesses and evidence due to their political connections.
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar appearing for Raj and Zakir, denied the charges against the two. The lawyers submitted that Raj and Zakir’s names were not mentioned in the first information report (FIR) and it was only when the chargesheet was filed, they had been named in the case for the first time. The lawyers added that there is no evidence to connect them to the riots and that they had already remained behind bars for two months.
Rohatgi also said that all three; Srinivasmurthy, Raj and Zakir belong to the Congress party and the charges against his client was a result of political bickering.
Representing the Karnataka government, advocate VN Raghupathy maintained that the state had opposed the bail before the high court and it is still against the grant of bail to Raj and Zakir.
The bench, however, noted that when it first issued notices on Srinivasmurthy’s petition, it was brought to its notice the high court had not released the reasoned bail orders even after a fortnight of granting bail. “Since the detailed orders have now been uploaded on the high court website, nothing remains to be adjudicated therein,” said the court.
It noted that the accused have remained in custody for more than two months and since the investigation was also over in the case, there was no need to interfere with the bail orders of Raj and Zakir.
