The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Rita Reeni, an accused in the murder of 62-year-old Fr K J Thomas, the rector of St Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bengaluru.
Reeni approached the court for anticipatory bail after the Yeshwantpur police filed an additional charge sheet, naming her an accused in the murder that shook Bengaluru. She is the editor of ‘Mathukate’, a Kannada magazine which champions the progressive needs of Catholic Christians in India.
Rejecting her petition, Justice A V Chandrashekhara stated that it was the murder of a functioning rector and hence not a fit case to be granted anticipatory bail. Another accused, 86-year-old Fr Anthappa, was granted anticipatory bail on health grounds as he is wheelchair-bound. Fr Thomas was murdered on March 31, 2013.
Published 03 February 2016, 21:29 IST