HC rejects lawyer's pre-arrest bail plea in murder case

The Kerala High Court today dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of by a prominent criminal lawyer here in a case related to the murder of a real estate dealer, holding that his custodial interrogation was highly essential.
"From the materials placed before this court and the materials in the case diary, I am of the view that role of the petitioner in the crime requires a deeper probe... this is a case where custodial interrogation is highly essential," Justice A Hariprasad said in his order.
The judge, who heard the matter after Justice P Ubaid had earlier recused himself from the case, dismissed the anticipatory bail petition filed by C P Udayabhanu.

Real estate dealer Rajeev was found dead in a deserted building at Chalakudy in Thrissur district last month.
In the previous hearing of the petition, the prosecution had informed the judge that the lawyer had been named as the seventh accused in the case.
It had claimed that Udayabhanu had links with the 46-year-old real estate dealer and the persons arrested in connection with his killing.

On October 23, Justice Ubaid, while recusing himself from hearing the matter, had made it clear that the lawyer cannot be arrested till the matter was heard by another judge.
Justice Hariprasad today observed that blanket orders passed by courts handling applications for anticipatory bail preventing arrest have been deprecated.

"It can be seen that such orders are not in consonance with the scheme of the provisions in Section 438 (Direction for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest) of the (Criminal Procedure) Code," he said.
In the light of the principles in the section, a court considering an anticipatory bail plea should take care to see that no orders were passed standing in the way of a proper investigation, the Judge added.