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A Supreme Court bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose today refused to grant bail to ‘Attack’ Pandi, a former aide of  DMK leader MK Azhagiri. Pandi has been accused of leading a mob which hurled petrol bombs at a newspaper office, killing three employees.

A Division bench of Madras High Court had in 2019 sentenced Pandi and eight others to life imprisonment for murder — three counts for each of the three dead victims — under Section 302 of the IPC. They were also awarded 5 years rigorous imprisonment for offences committed under Explosive Substances Act. Pandi had appealed against this order before Supreme Court.

In 2007, the Madurai Bureau of a Tamil daily called ‘Dinakaran’ was attacked for carrying a survey on who would be the political heir of the then DMK supremo M Karunanidhi. The survey claimed MK Stalin was the choice of the people to succeed Karunanidhi. This led to an attack on the office of the newspaper by a mob led by Pandi, who was an aide to Stalin’s brother Azhagiri. The hurled petrol bombs at the newspaper office, killing three of its employees.

The district and sessions court at Madurai acquitted all 17 accused on the ground that the case against Pandi and other was not proved beyond reasonable doubt. CBI challenged this decision before Madras High Court which convicted Pandi and eight others. Pandi is currently lodged in

Pandi had appealed against the order of Madras High Court before the Supreme Court. While the main appeal is pending consideration, Pandi had sought for a regular bail thrice from the apex court and the same was rejected.

When the matter came up for hearing today, Aastha Mehta, advocate, appearing for Pandi submitted that he wished to attend his brother’s wedding that is to happen in Madurai on June 13, 2022. She submitted that he could be taken into custody immediately after the wedding.

The Supreme Court remarked that Pandi’s plea for regular bail cannot be entertained as the court has rejected the same thrice. The court opined that it would have been appropriate to move a plea for interim bail instead of regular bail. Justice MR Shah remarked, “How do we know if there is really a wedding?”

Mehta answered to court’s query submitting that an invitation has been filed to this effect. She further informed the court that the court can also consider granting him a temporary bail. Justice MR Shah said, “In our career as judges we have seen many cases where fake invitations have been filed.” Justice Shah further remarked that if the wedding was fixed without Pandi’s presence, it can also happen without him.

The court thus noted that the plea has been filed seeking regular bail, which has already been refused by the Court. It was noted that submission to grant temporary bail to attend the marriage ceremony of the brother cannot be granted as there is no sufficient time to verify whether, in fact, the marriage is scheduled for 13.06.2022 or not.

The plea was therefore dismissed.

Case title: ‘Attack’ Pandi Vs State of Tamil Nadu