The Vadakara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Tuesday granted bail to Methil Punathil Shajeel, the accused in a hit-and-run case in which an elderly woman died and her granddaughter has been in a state of coma ever since.
He was charged under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence or a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code. He was granted bail by Magistrate A.M. Sheeja as it was a bailable offence. Earlier, judge Bindu Kumari V.S. of the Kozhikode District Sessions Court had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea owing to the seriousness of the case while the repatriation measures were in progress.
Shajeel was taken into custody by the District Crime Branch from the Coimbatore airport as he arrived from Dubai. He has been accused of hitting a 68-year-old woman, Baby, and her nine-year-old granddaughter from Thalassery, with his car, as they were crossing the road at Chorode near Vadakara, around 10 p.m. on February 17, 2024. While Baby died on the spot, her granddaughter has been in a state of coma ever since.
However, Shajeel had fled the scene, got his vehicle repaired, and collected the vehicle insurance before fleeing to Dubai in March the same year. He has also been charged for filing a false insurance claim.
It took the police 10 months to track the vehicle and the owner. The primary evidence included the description of a partial number plate by an autorickshaw driver following which the police conducted search based on CCTV footage.
They checked visuals of around 19,000 CCTV cameras within 40-km radius of the scene, around 50,000 phone calls, 500 spare parts stores, and interviewed around 500 people, before zeroing in on Shajeel and his vehicle. His insurance claim helped the police crack the case.
Published - February 11, 2025 10:13 pm IST
