UAPA | Kerala High Court Grants Bail To 10 PFI Members Allegedly Involved In RSS Leader Sreenivasan's Murder

The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice P. V. Balakrishnan granted bail to 8 of them namely Nassar, Jamsheer H., Abdul Basith, Muhammed Shefeek K., Ashraf K., Jishad B., Ashraf aka Ashraf Moulavi, Sirajudheen after taking into account the long period of incarceration already undergone by them and the lack of direct evidence against them.

The murder of Sreenivasan was initially investigated by the State police but it was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) based on the allegations that the murder was part of a larger criminal conspiracy to instigate and radicalise to commit terrorist acts in Kerala.

All the bail petitioners had been in detention for more than 2 years. The Supreme Court had stayed the NIA Court from framing charges in a petition filed by some of the accused.

The High Court noted that even if the trial commences in the near future, it would take time to go through the voluminous materials in the case and therefore the trial would not be completed within a reasonable timeframe. It relied on the Supreme Court decisions in Shaheen Welfare Assn v Union of India (1996), Union of India v K. A. Najeeb (2021) and Athar Parwez v Union of India (2024) to grant bail to the petitioners.

The High Court had in two earlier instances granted bail to other 18 accused in the case. Details of it can be read here and here.

NIA, opposing the bail had contended that the proceedings were being dragged due to Supreme Court's stay order. However, the High Court observed that the accused cannot be blamed for approaching Supreme Court to get favourable orders.

“The accused cannot be blamed for taking up legitimate contentions and approaching the highest court of the land to ventilate the grievances and obtain favourable orders. What matters essentially is the period of pre-trial detention the accused has endured and the possibility of the trial being delayed even further.”

The Court also granted bail to 2 other accused, Shefeek and Jafar B, who have been in custody since March 2024 and February 2024 respectively after noting that written grounds of arrest were not served to them during arrest.

As per the NIA, the murder of the RSS leader was part of the plan of the Popular Front of India (PFI) - an organisation now being classified as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by the Indian Government - to overthrow the democracy in India and implement Islamic Rule by 2047. As per their case, S. K. Sreenivasan was targeted for being a prominent Hindu leader and it was done to create terror in the society. It was alleged that the accused did not have any personal enmity with the deceased.

A final report has been filed against 59 accused under section 120B, 34, 109, 115, 118, 119, 143, 144, 147, 148, 449, 153A, 341, 302, 201, 212 r/w 149, 120B r/w 302 of IPC, Section 3(a)(b)(d) r/w Section 7 of the Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988 and Sections 13, 16, 18, 18A, 18B, 20, 22C, 23, 38 and 39 of UAPA and Section 25(1)(a) of Arms Act.

However, the petitioner submitted that the Kerala Police after investigating the case had concluded that the murder of Sreenivasan was a retaliation to the murder of the PFI activist 'Subair'. They submitted that NIA was giving a communal colour to the whole incident to invite provisions of UAPA.

Case No: Crl.A 228 of 2025 & Connected cases

Case Title: Nassar v Union of India and Another & Connected Cases

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 226