Bail plea of Nirmala devi, 2 others opposed

The objection was raised in a counter affidavit submitted to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which on Tuesday heard the bail pleas of Nirmala Devi, S Karuppasamy, a former research scholar of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) and V Murugan, assistant professor of the University. 

Appearing before Justice Ilantheriyan, the counsel for the CB-CID argued against granting bail to the accused, claiming they could possibly destroy evidence. 

The trio were arrested in April this year based on an audio tape of a conversation between Nirmala Devi and the girl students. 

The accused were booked under Sections 370 (1) and (3) (trafficking of persons), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 354 A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, the Information Technology Act and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. The case was later transferred to the CB-CID. 

It maybe recalled that the Governor, in his capacity as the University chancellor, also constituted a probe team. 

After hearing the arguments, Justice Ilantheriyan adjourned the case to september 12.