KANNUR
The Thalassery District Session Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of four accused, including BJP Thalassery constituency president and councilor K. Lijesh, allegedly involved in the murder case of Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist Punnol Haridasan. Haridasan, a fisherman, was hacked to death near his house on February 21. The court rejected that bail after hearing detailed arguments. Apart from Lijesh, M. Sunesh, K.V. Vimin and Amal Manoharan from Punnol, who are accused in the case, had approached the court for bail. Advocate C.K. Ambikasuthan appeared for the first accused and Advocate Premarajan for the others. The court rejected the bail after accepting the argument of the prosecution that the accused Lijesh is not only a political leader but also a people’s representative. He led the assassination and brought weapons to others and incited them to commit the murder. The victim was brutally murdered in front of his wife and daughter. Therefore, granting bail to the accused during the investigation phase would send a bad message to the society, the prosecution argued. The respondent argued that the four were innocent. They were caught and wrongly implicated in a fraudulent case for political reasons.
