The Supreme Court has refused to grant bail to Mudalmuthu, who has been behind bars for six years on charges of abduction of former Karnataka Minister, H Nagappa on August 25, 2002.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran asked Mudalmuthu, an associate of slain forest brigand Veerappan, to approach the Karnataka High Court.

Mudalmuthu’s advocate submitted that the accused might be released on bail as the hearing of the case had been stalled for technical reasons. The accused had been languishing in jail for the past six years without facing any trial, said the advocate. Mudalmuthu, Gabbar, Sagai Raj and Amul Raj were nabbed by the Karnataka Special Task Force (STF) in the Ramapura police station limits in Kollegal taluk. Veerappan had plotted the kidnapping of Nagappa, a former JD(U) leader, to kill him in retaliation for the death of his brother Arjunan.

The former minister, who was kidnapped from his house by Veerappan, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the forest near Kamagere in Chamarajanagar district on December 8, 2002.

Nagappa’s wife Parimala Nagappa, had filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court in August 2003 seeking directions for a CBI probe to unearth the events leading to her husband’s death.