E P Jayarajan and KT Jaleel get bail in assembly ruckus case

Thiruvananthapuram: A trial court here on Wednesday granted bail to state ministers E P Jayarajan and K T Jaleel in a criminal case registered in connection with the ruckus inside the state Assembly in 2015 during the tenure of previous Congress-led UDF government.

Chief Judicial Magistrate R Jayakrishnan granted bail to the ministers, who appeared before the court, and posted the matter for further hearing on November 12.

The development comes a day after the Kerala High Court had declined to stay the summons issued to them.

Recently, the lower court had directed the two ministers to appear before it on October 28 in the case registered against a group of LDF MLAs for 'creating ruckus' in the Assembly by trying to prevent budget presentation by then Finance Minister K M Mani.

The trial court had rejected the plea filed by the Left Democratic Front government seeking withdrawal of the case filed under various provisions ofPrevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act by the then UDF government.

Challenging this, the state government filed an appeal in the high court, which declined to stay the summons and posted the matter for November 3 for further consideration.

LDF leaders K Ajith, V Sivankutty, C K Sadasivan and K Kunhammed, MLAs then, the other accused in the case, had earlier appeared before the court and secured bail in the case.

The assembly had witnessed unprecedented scenes on March 13, 2015 as the LDF members then in opposition tried to prevent Finance Minister K M Mani, who was facing charges in the bar bribery scam, from presenting the state budget.

The LDF government had in 2018 approached the court for withdrawal of the case against its ministers and leaders.