MADURAI
Suspended assistant professor Nirmala Devi, the key accused in the audio tape scandal case, filed a petition seeking bail before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday.
Nirmala Devi, in her petition, claimed that the prosecution alleged that she had tried to traffic girl students at the behest of some highly placed Madurai Kamaraj University officials and she was heard trying to lure four girls from Devanga Arts College into offering certain favours in return for academic gains.
She claimed that she was innocent and falsely implicated in the case and added that she would abide by the conditions imposed by the court, if enlarged on bail. With the investigation in the case already completed, she said, she was seeking a direction to be let out on bail.
V. Murugan, accused along with Nirmala Devi in the case, also filed a petition seeking bail in the case. He claimed that there were no incriminating evidence against him.
Taking up both the pleas for hearing, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh adjourned the case till August 27.
The High Court Bench had earlier denied bail to S. Karuppasamy, the third accused in the case. While denying bail to Karuppasamy, the court had said the case was an extraordinary one and had sent shock waves across the State. It had directed the lower court in Virudhunagar to hear the matter expeditiously and complete the trial within six months.
The three accused in the case are currently lodged in the Madurai Central Prison. The CB-CID have booked them under Sections 370 (1) and (3) (trafficking of persons), read with 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and 354A (sexual harassment), of the Indian Penal Code, and under the provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Act, Information Technology Act and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
