Armstrong murder case: Chennai court grants bail to 12 accused, including main accused Aswathaman
Armstrong, who was the Tamil Nadu State President of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death near his residence last year.
Late BSP state chief Armstrong (Daily Thanthi)
CHENNAI: The Chennai Principal Sessions Court has granted conditional bail to 12 accused, including key accused Aswathaman, in the Armstrong murder case.
Armstrong, who was the Tamil Nadu State President of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death near his residence last year. In connection with the case, 27 people, including notorious rowdy Nagendran and his son Aswathaman, were arrested. Recently, Nagendran died due to health complications while in custody.
Meanwhile, bail petitions filed by Aswathaman, Anjalai, Pradeep, and 11 others came up for hearing before Justice S Karthikeyan of the Principal Sessions Court, Chennai.
During the hearing, the petitioners’ side pointed out that even though the Madras High Court had ordered the transfer of the case to the CBI, the State Police had not yet handed over the case files to the agency.
They also argued that they had been in prison for over one and a half years and requested bail, assuring the court that they would abide by any conditions imposed.
However, Armstrong’s wife and his brother Keenos Armstrong, who had filed an intervention petition, opposed the bail plea.
After hearing arguments from all sides, the Justice granted conditional bail to 12 accused — Aswathaman, Anjalai, Pradeep, Rajesh, Noor alias Vijayakumar, Kumar alias Senthil Kumar, Gopi, Vignesh alias Appu, and Mugilan — with several conditions.
The court ordered them to appear before the investigating officer daily and sign the register, not to tamper with witnesses, and to fully cooperate with the investigation.
The bail petitions of two other accused, Gokul and Hariharan, were dismissed by the Justice.