SC grants bail to software engineer in sensational Bengaluru mass suicide case

The petitioner had challenged the validity of an earlier High Court order that had rejected his bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a software engineer from Bengaluru facing charges of abetting the suicide of his wife, who, along with three other members of her paternal family had ended their lives after killing a nine-month-old kid in September, last year.

A bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sudhanshu Dhulia allowed bail plea by petitioner E S Praveen Kumar who was arrested in a suo moto FIR lodged by the Bengaluru police on October 1, 2021.

Also Read | Supreme Court relief for Times Now anchor in Prophet remarks row

Senior advocate Venugopala Gowda, along with advocate Balaji Srinivasan, appeared for the petitioner while the state government was represented by advocate V N Raghupathy. Gowda said that the minor child of the petitioner lost her mother and now. her father was in custody.

In its order, the court noted that the case arose out of an unfortunate event, where four related persons of the family committed mass suicide, which included the wife of the present appellant.

"The appellant is said to be in custody since 01.10.2021. There is said to have been marital discord concerning the father-in-law of the appellant with the other members of the family including mother-in-law of the appellant, who has also committed suicide. The appellant is said to be having a two and a half years old child with none else to look after him. The chargesheet in this case has already been filed," the bench said.

In the totality of the circumstances and nature of allegations, no useful purpose would be served in keeping him in detention, the bench added.

The petitioner challenged the validity of the High Court's order of May 19, contending that his bail plea was "erroneously" rejected without adverting to any just or good reason.

He claimed that he was innocent and in fact, no case was made out against him in the charge sheet filed on November 26, 2021. He claimed it was he who found out about the deaths and rescued his other child, who had been starving for two days.

Also Read | Supreme Court stays trial against Abdul Nazir Maudany in 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case

The petitioner claimed that an internal dispute within his wife's family had led them to end the lives of his mother-in-law Bharthi, sister-in-law Sindhu Rani, wife Sinchana Kumar and brother -in-law Madhursagar by hanging. His minor son was also found dead while his 2.5-year-old daughter survived.

He also pointed out it was primarily a fight between his father-in-law and other family members that had led to the unfortunate incident. However, it was alleged he did not take good care of his wife, who was living in her parental home, so he was also indirectly responsible for her death.