Interim anticipatory bail granted to suspect in IREL trespassing incident

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench granted interim anticipatory bail to a 66-year-old man, who was summoned by the police for inquiry into the case of two French nationals trespassing into the Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) property at Manavalakurichi in Kanyakumari district. 

Petitioner S Kumaresan submitted that he was summoned by the Colachel assistant superintendent of police on December 24 for inquiry in connection with the trespassing incident that took place at IERL. 

Contending that he had no link to the trespassing incident, he claimed the Colachel police were rude to him and his family, while serving the summon. This had also been captured in the closed-circuit television cameras fixed around his house, he added. 

Apprehending that the police were trying to implicate and arrest him, he prayed the Court to grant him anticipatory bail. He also stated that as he was suffering from hypertension and kidney problem, and had been advised to take bed rest for a month. Justice B Pugalendhi, who heard the plea, observed that the trespassing incident was a serious issue.

“If the petitioner is innocent, then he should establish it before the police,” he said, and granted an interim anticipatory bail to Kumaresan till January 22, on condition that he should cooperate with the inquiry. Kumaresan’s counsel stated that his client is an agriculturist and in no way connected with the trespassing. Kumaresan was summoned on the sole reason that the accused French nationals had visited him at his home, the counsel said.