The Kerala High Court on Friday admitted a petition filed by the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) seeking to revoke the bail granted to six accused police officers in the Nedumkandam custodial death case.
When the petition was taken up for hearing, CBI counsel submitted that the offence committed by the police officers was brutal and heinous. Rajkumar, a remand prisoner was tortured to death on June 21, 2019, at the Nedumkandam police station.
The CBI further submitted that the then sub-inspector K.A. Sabu and other accused police officers had taken Rajkumar into illegal custody on June 12, 2019, kept him in lock-up till June 15 and tortured him.
According to the CBI petition, the accused in such a grave crime were leading a free life which might lead to loss of faith of society in the rule of law and administration of the criminal justice system.
Besides, releasing them on bail had impeded the ongoing investigation. The CBI sought to cancel the bail granted earlier by the High Court to C.B. Rejimon, S. Niyas, Sajeev Antony, K.M. James, Jithin K. George and Roy P. Varghese.
The CBI pointed out that the investigation had revealed involvement of more police officers either as conspirators or abettors. If the accused police officers’ bail was not cancelled, they might influence the witnesses and tamper with evidence.
