Ooty: Arrest warrant issued against Manoj, Sayan

Ooty: The District and Sessions Court here cancelled the bail for Sayan and Manoj, both accused in the Kodanad estate break-in-cum murder case, who linked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami into the incident during an interview to a TV channel in New Delhi in January.

Mr. Bala Nandakumar, public prosecutor of Nilgiris, moved a petition in the court here on January 29 seeking cancellation of bail to both Sayan and Manjoj alias Valayar Manoj, stating that the accused duo misused the freedom provided through the bail by talking to media and leveling serious allegations against the Chief Minister.  

He also stated in the petition that the duo may try to tamper with the evidences and may pose threat to other witnesses in this case, which is a sensitive one.

Mr. Nandakumar put up a spirited argument for the cancellation of bail for the duo when the matter came for hearing last Saturday, when the court adjourned the matter to today. It also instructed both the accused to be present in the court on Friday.

While the accused duo failed to appear in the court as their advocates submitted petitions to the court in the morning to condone their absence, the court passed the orders in the afternoon session cancelling bail to the duo.  The court also issued warrant to arrest the accused-duo immediately.

Meanwhile, the court also issued non-bailable warrant against two more accused in this case, namely, Dhipu and Bijin, as they failed to appear in the court on Friday for  the regular hearing in this case.

After the court passed orders, the police here formed three special teams to arrest Sayan and Manoj as well as Dhipu and Bijin.