Madras High Court grants bail to woman accused of sponsoring BSP leader Armstrong’s murder

The Madras High Court granted bail to a woman accused of sponsoring the murder of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) State president K. Armstrong in 2024 as she wanted to take revenge, refused bail to one of the co-accused, set aside the bail order granted by the sessions court to 12 other accused and upheld the bail order passed by the trial court for two of the 30 persons attached in the case.

Justice K. Rajasekar granted bail to S. Porkodi, who is accused of giving 10 sovereign gold bangles of her late husband Arcot Suresh, reportedly pledged for ₹3.56 lakh, to provide vehicles and accommodation to Armstrong’s attackers. The judge took into account that the applicant was a woman who had been detained for a long time.

Although the prosecution claimed to have call detail records that would prove she was in constant contact with the attackers to eliminate those she thought were responsible for her husband’s death, the judge said the charge against her was only to provide the money needed for the murder and there was “no allegation that she actively participated in the commission of the crime”.

However, the judge denied bail to lawyer K. Haridharan, who was named as the nineteenth defendant in the case and was accused of transferring money to other defendants and destroying evidence by breaking six mobile phones and throwing them into the Kosasthalaiyar River. Police seized these mobile phones using scuba divers and sent them for forensic analysis.

In addition, the judge, who ordered the cancellation of the bail granted to the other 14 defendants by the hearing court upon the petition submitted by the police, canceled the bail decision given to 12 of the defendants and approved the bail decision given to the remaining. The judge said that the sessions court did not adequately appreciate the seriousness of the charges against the 12 accused before granting them bail and therefore the accused should surrender before the trial court by March 6, 2026.

The 12 accused were: Ashwathaman (A3), Pradeep (A16), Hariharan (A17), Sathishkumar (A20), Siva (A21), Appu alias Puyor Appu (A22), Mukilan (A23), Noor alias Vijay alias Vijayakumar (A24), Vignesh alias Appu (A25), Rajesh (A26), Gopi (A27) and Kumara alias Senthilkumar (A28). Some of them petitioned the court to extend the deadline for their surrender by four weeks.

The two accused whose bail order passed by the trial court remained untouched by the High Court were Anjalai, the 29th accused, and S. Malarkodi, the 30th accused.