Bus-burning case: bail for four

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 1.The Madras High Court today granted conditional bail to four accused in the case related to the burning of a bus in Dharmapuri on February 2, in which three college girls were burnt alive.

Granting the bail, Justice D. Murugesan said it was subject to the condition that the four - Messrs. Chandran, Chellakutty, Cauvery and Mani - should execute a bond of Rs. 25,000 each with two sureties each for a like sum to the satisfaction of the Judicial Magistrate-I, Dharmapuri.

They should not tamper with the prosecution evidence in any manner and not indulge in any unlawful activities in which event the bail was liable to be cancelled. The accused should fully cooperate with the process of the trial and regularly appear before the Judge. Any absence even for a single hearing without proper and acceptable reasons would lead to cancellation of the bail, Justice Murugesan said, directing the trial judge to take up the trial on day-to-day basis and dispose of the case as expeditiously as possible.

The accused were arrested on March 10 and 11 for offences under Sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 307, 302 and 114 of the IPC and under Sections 3 and 4 of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention) of Damage and Loss Act.

He said four other accused in the case have already been released on bail by the Supreme Court and the petitioners were also similarly placed. Hence, they were eligible for bail. With the chargesheet filed and the case ripe for trial, the Judge said it was in the interest of justice to extend the benefit given to the petitioners by the Supreme Court to the accused too as no allegation of actually burning the bus had been attributed against them.

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Section  : Southern States
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