SC grants bail to murder convicts in "Saravana Bhavan" case

The Supreme Court granted bail to five of the life convicts responsible for the sensational murder of Santhakumar, an employee of the popular Saravana Bhavan group of hotels.

The Supreme Court today granted bail to five of the life convicts responsible for the sensational murder of Santhakumar, an employee of the popular Saravana Bhavan group of hotels, whose owner P Rajagopal was also sentenced to life imprisonment by Madras High Court.

The murder, according to the prosecution, was plotted by Rajagopal as he wanted to marry Jeevan Jyothi, wife of the murdered employee. Rajagopal was earlier granted bail by the apex court on medical grounds.

A bench of Justices BN Agrawal and GS Singhvi granted bail to the five convicts Daniel, Karmegam, Hussain alias Zakir Hussain, Kasi alias Kasi Viswanathan and Pattu Rajan. The five, according to the prosecution, were hired by Rajagopal to commit the murder.

Senior defence counsel Sushil Kumar claimed the convicts were entitled to bail as the conviction was based solely on circumstantial evidence.

The body of Santhakumar was found by forest officials at Perumalmalai in Kodaikanal range in October 2001. It was buried in the Kodaikanal municipal burial ground. Later, the body was identified to be that of Santhakumar and a charge sheet filed for offences under section 302 (murder), 364 (abduction) and 201 (destruction of evidence) Indian Penal Code, following which the alleged conspiracy came to light.