The Principal Sessions Court in Kottayam on Monday cancelled the bail granted to two of the accused in the Kevin murder case and remanded them in jail till the end of the trial.
Principal Sessions judge C. Jayachandran cancelled the bail of Manu Muraleedharan and Shinu Nasar, sixth and thirteenth accused respectively, for violating their bail conditions and intimidating witnesses. The action followed a statement by Rajesh Kariath Madhavan, 37th witness in the case, in the court that he had been assaulted by the accused the other day at Punalur just ahead of leaving for Kottayam to appear in the court.
Cancelling their bail, the court observed that the accused had tried to restrain a witness from deposing before the court, which amounted to violation of the conditions imposed by the High Court while granting bail. Hence, they were not entitled to the liberty they had been granted.
Confession
While deposing before the judge, Rajesh made an extrajudicial confession that Fazal Sherif and Remees, two other accused in the case, had told him about kidnapping two youths from Kottayam after demolishing the house of one among them. The incident took place only two days after the abduction of Kevin along with Aneesh, his cousin.
During the day, the court also examined the Kottayam taluk officer, who verified Kevin was a convert to Christianity from a Scheduled Caste.
Meanwhile, the court on Tuesday is slated to examine some people hailing from Chaliyekkara, Kollam, who are associated with the respondents. This includes Muhammad Suhail, an ally of the accused, who earlier gave a secret statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with the case.
