MADURAI: A Judicial Magistrate Court in Thoothukudi on Wednesday dismissed both the bail petition filed by Vilathikulam MLA GV Markandeyan and the police plea seeking his police custody in a case alleging that he made defamatory remarks against Chief Minister Vijay during a public meeting in Kovilpatti.
The Thoothukudi District Crime Branch arrested MLA Markandeyan for his alleged defamatory remarks against the CM during the public meeting. He was questioned for nearly 11 hours at the district police office before being remanded to judicial custody till August 3 by Judicial Magistrate-I Sumathi.
The bail petition was scheduled to be heard on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the Thoothukudi District Crime Branch police filed a petition seeking permission to take Markandeyan into police custody for further interrogation. The court decided to hear both petitions together in the afternoon and directed the authorities to produce Markandeyan, who was lodged in Palayamkottai prison, before the court.
Accordingly, Markandeyan was produced before Judicial Magistrate-I Sumathi at the Thoothukudi Judicial Magistrate Court.
During the hearing, the police sought custody of the MLA for further interrogation. Opposing the plea, counsel for Markandeyan submitted that he had already been questioned for 11 hours, during which the police had asked more than 170 questions, and that he had signed all the documents required by the investigating agency. Therefore, no further police custody was necessary.
Arguing for bail, the defence counsel contended that the speech delivered by the MLA at the public meeting had been made without any malicious intent. The prosecution strongly opposed the plea and urged the court not to grant bail.
After hearing both sides, Judicial Magistrate-I Sumathi dismissed both the MLA's bail petition and the police application seeking police custody for further interrogation.