The Madras High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to DMK MLA P. Moorthy of Madurai (East) constituency in a case booked against him for allegedly intimidating a BJP member.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar granted the relief after the MLA agreed to deposit ₹50,000 in the bank account of the Cancer Institute in Adyar, Chennai. The judge also directed him to report before the Tallakulam police in Madurai city as and when required.
The MLA had actually filed the petition before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court through his senior counsel N.R. Elango. However, since cases related to MPs and MLAs were being handled by Justice Kumar, the petition was transferred to Chennai.
In his petition, he alleged that Sankarapandi of the BJP was in the habit of spreading canards against him on social media. Hence, he had just questioned him about that during his visit to Oomachikulam in Madurai to distribute COVID-19 relief.
On the other hand, the complainant’s counsel G. Karthikeyan told the court that the MLA had trespassed into his client’s house and abused him and his family members. He stated that the entire incident had been recorded in a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera.
The Additional Public Prosecutor too confirmed to the court that there was indeed CCTV footage to prove the charges against the MLA. After taking that into consideration and the fact that the charge of criminal intimidation alone was non-bailable, the judge decided to grant advance bail.
He, however, insisted that the petitioner deposit some money in the account of the Cancer Institute, which was in dire need of money due to the COVID-19 lockdown, as a condition for grant of bail and the MLA agreed to deposit the money.
