Kochi, July 29 (IANS) After spending more than two months behind bars without securing bail, seven CPI-M workers, accused in the alleged attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in May, have approached the Kerala High Court, setting the stage for a high-profile legal battle with the central agency determined to oppose their release.
The bail petitions, to be heard between Thursday and August 4, come after the Sessions Court rejected the accused’s applications on two occasions.
The ED has decided to contest the pleas by engaging the Assistant Solicitor General, while the accused have assembled a formidable legal team of senior criminal lawyers.
Among those who have moved the High Court are fifth accused Sreejith, seventh accused Anilkumar, Shafeeq, Kiran, and Nishad Jeevan, besides two others.
In all, 24 CPI-M workers remain in judicial custody for more than 60 days.
The accused contend that they have been falsely implicated, with several of them identified solely on the basis of media reports.
They argue that the charge of attempt to murder is unsustainable as no weapons were used, no one suffered grievous injuries, no test identification parade was conducted, and the ED driver’s injuries were only minor.
According to them, the attempt to murder charge was invoked only to exaggerate the gravity of the case.
The prosecution, however, is understood to be preparing a partial charge sheet, a move that could prevent the accused from claiming statutory bail.
The ED has also adopted an aggressive legal strategy after earlier objecting to the grant of bail to one accused when the public prosecutor reportedly took a position inconsistent with the police report.
The state government’s plea seeking cancellation of that bail is also pending before the High Court.
The case stems from violent scenes in the last week of May after ED officials conducted a search at the rented residence of Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the CMRL-Exalogic investigation involving his daughter Veena’s now-defunct IT firm.
As the officials were leaving in hired vehicles after the search, an unruly crowd of CPI-M supporters allegedly attacked the moving convoy, injuring some ED personnel and damaging the vehicles.
Earlier this week, the ED paid Rs 1.75 lakh to repair the damaged vehicles hired for the operation.
–IANS
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