The Supreme Court on Thursday made absolute an order of interim bail granted on June 30 in favour of Kilvaithinankuppam (Reserved) MLA ‘Poovai’ M. Jagan Moorthy in an abduction case.
A Bench headed by Justice Manoj Mishra gave relief to Mr. Moorthy despite vehement objections raised by Tamil Nadu Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari and advocate Sabarish Subramanium, appearing for the State, pointing to the seriousness of the accusations.
The top court had allowed him protection from arrest in June on the condition that he would cooperate with the probe and not influence or tamper with either witnesses or the evidence.
Mr. Moorthy, through advocate Ram Sankar, had filed an appeal in the apex court after the Madras High Court refused his plea for pre-arrest bail.
The apex court was also, at the time, looking into a plea filed by Tamil Nadu Additional Director General of Police H.M. Jayaram, who was arrested and later released, in the same abduction case registered at Thiruvalangadu Police Station at Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu.
Besides, the High Court had paid heed to allegations that the MLA was uncooperative, and there was a need for his custodial interrogation.
The case relates to the alleged abduction of a boy, aged over 16, from Kalambakkam near Thiruvalangadu on May 10. The allegations were linked to the boy’s elder brother, who had met a girl on social media, married and eloped with her. The girl’s family had come in search of her, found the younger brother and took him away. He was later dropped off at a nearby location by them.