NIA moves Supreme Court over bail granted to 17 PFI members in RSS leader's 2022 murder case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Kerala High Court's decision to grant bail to 17 members of the Popular Front of India (PFI), who are accused in the 2022 murder case of RSS leader Srinivasan. The NIA filed 17 separate appeals contesting the high court's June 25 order, which granted bail to the accused while rejecting the pleas of nine others.

During a hearing on Friday, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti, representing the NIA, urged the Supreme Court to consider all the Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) together. A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih directed the court registry to seek permission from Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to list the matters jointly.

The Kerala High Court had granted bail to 17 out of the 26 accused in the case under stringent conditions. These conditions included sharing mobile numbers and real-time GPS locations with investigators, surrendering passports, and ensuring their mobile phones remain active. The accused were also barred from leaving Kerala.

The case centers around the murder of Srinivasan in Palakkad district on April 16, 2022, for which 51 people were initially charged. One of the arrested suspects has since died, and seven others remain absconding. The NIA took over the investigation in September 2022 after the Centre received intelligence that PFI leaders had conspired to incite communal violence and radicalize members to commit terrorist acts.

The NIA’s probe revealed that the murder was part of a broader conspiracy with "grave national and international ramifications," leading to the filing of charge sheets in two phases in July and December 2022, followed by additional supplementary charge sheets in 2023. The Supreme Court will now consider the appeals and decide whether the bail granted to the 17 accused should be revoked.