The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday dismissed the fourth anticipatory bail application of absconding proclaimed offender P. Pandi alias ‘Attack’ Pandi in a case registered against him on the charge of masterminding the murder of N. Suresh Babu alias ‘Pottu’ Suresh, close aide of former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri, on January 31, 2013.
Justice P.N. Prakash accepted the submission of Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian that the court should not grant advance bail to a person who was facing 15 cases for heinous offences such as murder, attempt to murder, rioting, land grabbing, house trespass, cheating, forgery, harassment of women and damage to public property.
The AAG pointed out that a Judicial Magistrate here had declared the petitioner as a proclaimed offender since he had been absconding since 2013 and did not appear before the Magistrate on January 22, 2014, despite publication of the summons in vernacular newspapers. The Magistrate had also ordered attachment of his properties.
After recording the submission, the judge said the fact that the petitioner had been absconding for more than two years was sufficient to infer that he was an outlaw. He also recalled the words of former Supreme Court Judge V.R. Krishna Iyer, in a case decided way back in 1980, that “an outlaw cannot ask for the benefit of law and he who flees justice cannot claim justice.”
The judge also perused the Case Diary related to the murder of ‘Pottu’ Suresh and found that there were sufficient materials disclosing the involvement of the petitioner in the murder. “This court does not want to disclose the materials at this juncture for that will hamper the course of investigation,” he said, and agreed with the AAG that the petitioner must be subjected to custodial interrogation.
“He is a proclaimed offender since he had been absconding since 2013”
