The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by the Telangana Government challenging a Telangana High Court order that granted bail to four men accused of conspiring and supplying explosives and material such as drones to members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The case was heard by a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, who declined to interfere in the high court’s order.
The case was registered in the Cherla police station of Bhadradri Kothagudem district and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The trial court dismissed their bail petitions on November 7, 2023, and January 18, 2024. The four bail applicants are accused 1, 3, 6, and 7 in the case.
In the trial court, the special public prosecutor for the NIA had contended that the offences, charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other laws, were grave and serious in nature, and since some of the accused in this case were absconding, it was not safe to grant bail.
The police caught them on June 5, 2023, on the outskirts of Cherla Mandal during a vehicle check drive. They were found in possession of “incriminating material objects, such as one drone, cortex wire bundles – 2 each 80 meters length, gelatin sticks – 10, detonators – 5. The accused 1 to 7 conspired to hand over the same to the underground cadres of proscribed organization of CPI (Maoist) i.e., accused 8 to 11 and others, for making landmine and IED firearms”, the police alleged.
However, while hearing the batch of petitions challenging the rejection of bail applications by the trial court, a Telangana High Court bench of Justices K Lakshman and P Sree Sudha granted them bail with certain conditions, including some general ones, bail bonds, and weekly reporting.
The high court, in its order dated March 21, 2024, acknowledged the NIA’s primary concern that the accused might threaten witnesses, including protected ones, and potentially disrupt the fairness of the trial. Should this occur, the special court might be unable to conduct a fair trial. In such a scenario, the NIA is free to apply for the cancellation of bail, the bench said.
