HC rejects bail plea of accused, for being part of killers’ gang

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: Even though only one of the 28 injuries on a murder victim was due to a pistol injury and the pistol recovered from the accused was found to be a different one, the accused’s bail plea was rejected by the High Court. The Court said that since he was part of an unlawful assembly which was responsible for the murder, he cannot be released on bail.

“No doubt, report is received that the weapon which was seized from him was not used but the fact that the eye-witnesses who were present at the time of the incident and he being part of the unlawful assembly it is to be required to note that all the accused are charged for offences punishable under Sections 302, 307 read with Section 149 of IPC,” the HC noted. The bail petition was filed by Jiya aka Isubu Shiyad from Kasargod, Kerala. He is currently in judicial custody in the Central Prison in Bengaluru.

He is accused in a murder in Ullal in 2017. He was absconding before being apprehended in 2021. His petition for bail was rejected by the High Court in 2021 and a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court was also rejected. He filed a second bail petition before the HC which was heard by Justice HP Sandesh.

His advocate contended that in the test identification parade the witnesses had not identified him. The forensic lab reported that the pistol which was recovered from him was not the one used in the crime. There were 28 wounds on the victim and the pistol injury was the 26 one which did not cause the death, his advocate argued.

The government advocate opposed Jiya’s bail petition and argued that he was a habitual offender who was wanted in other similar crimes including murder and attempt-to-murder. In the particular case, he had driven the other accused in a car and sent a few other accused in a lorry to cause an accident of the victim before he was attacked.

Dismissing the petition, the High Court said, “The very contention that no material is collected against this petitioner cannot be accepted when he was part of the unlawful assembly and accompanied with deadly weapons and assailants. Hence I do not find any merit in the successive bail petition to enlarge the petitioner on bail.”