SC grants bail to ex-minister, raps police

Chennai: The Supreme Court Wednesday granted four-week bail to former AIADMK minister K T Rajenthra Bhalaji in an alleged job scam case and rapped the Tamil Nadu police for arresting him during the pendency of his bail plea, raiding his lawyer and keeping him in a jail at Trichy which is 300 kms away from the local court.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli referred to its earlier orders in cases including the suo motu matter and said that in a situation when the jails are ordered to be decongested due to worsening Covid situation, the accused former minister be released on bail.

“Taking into consideration all the ...facts, and the guidelines and directions passed by this Court ...which were reiterated recently in Suo Moto Writ Petition (C) No.1/2020, we deem it appropriate to grant interim bail to the petitioner (Mr. K.T. Rajenthrabhalaji) for a period of four weeks from today,” it said.

The apex court also imposed conditions including that the accused “shall not leave the place of the jurisdictional police station where the alleged offences are registered” and shall surrender his passport to the concerned magistrate immediately.

It also asked the former minister to participate in the investigation and co-operate with the investigating agency.

During the hearing, it took serious note of the fact that the accused was arrested just after the rejection of the pre-arrest bail plea by the Madras high Court and during the pendency of his bail plea before the apex court. The bench was also irked over the fact that the house of the lawyer was raided and the accused minister was lodged in a jail not in Madurai but Trichy , which was 300 kms away from the jurisdictional court in the matter. “The manner in which he has been arrested, the manner in which the house of his advocate has been raided, and advocate’s wife was asked to disclose his whereabouts, that is objectionable...If this is the way, then we will have to order inquiry into activity of your police, how they behave with lawyers also. This is how the police will behave,” the bench observed.

It took note of the fact that after the rejection of the prearrest bail by the high court, the accused had written to the police officer concerned to wait till the top court hears the plea. PTI