Supreme Court releases Madurai lawyer on bail in Tamil Nadu PFI conspiracy case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with an order of the Madras High Court granting bail to a Madurai-based advocate, who was arrested by the NIA in connection with the Tamil Nadu Popular Front of India conspiracy case.

A Bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal ordered release of the accused on bail taking note of the translation provided by the Registrar of the High Court of the alleged conversation between the accused individuals.

The accused, in his counter-affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, claimed that a “twisted translation with wrong inference” was produced by the NIA to mislead the apex court, adding that the High Court had heard the audio recording of the alleged conversation in Tamil but was not impressed with the contention of the anti-terror agency.

The top court on August 4 temporarily stayed the operation of the decision of the High Court while issuing notice on a Special Leave Petition filed by the NIA.

In its impugned decision, the High Court had granted bail to advocate M Mohamed Abbas who was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for carrying out alleged unlawful and anti-national activities of the banned PFI.

The NIA initially registered an FIR in September last year and arrested around 15 accused for conspiring and planning to eliminate “perceived enemies” who were not aligned to the PFI ideology and were opposed to its plans to establish an Islamic State in India by 2047.