The Karnataka High Court has upheld the rejection of interim bail to an accused booked for the 2016 murder of RSS worker Rudresh R. under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, after noting that he had been granted interim bail on an earlier occasion for attending his deceased sister’s rituals.

The appellant/accused approached the High Court assailing the order passed by the Trial Court in a case registered under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 27 of the Arms Act and under Sections 15, 16, 17, 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAP Act), whereby the Trial Court had rejected the interim bail application filed by the appellant under Section 439(1) of the Cr.P.C.

The Division Bench of Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum and Justice Rajesh Rai K held, “Since the appellant has filed the present application to attend 40th day prayer ceremony of his deceased sister, that too, immediately after his earlier application being considered and granted by the Trial Court vide order dated 16.04.2026 to attend 10th to 13th day prayer ceremony, the present application has rightly been rejected by the Trial Court as there was no cogent reason assigned by the appellant as to why the similar application has to be entertained once again and as the trial of the case being at the fag end and that the offences alleged against the appellant being serious in nature.”

Advocate Mohammed Tahir represented the Appellant, while Special Public Prosecutor P. Prasanna Kumar represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

Based on a complaint lodged by one Jayaram alleging the murder of Rudresh R., the Commercial Street Police Station registered a case, after which the appellant was arrested. A chargesheet also came to be filed. The appellant, who has been in judicial custody for 9 years and 6 months, approached the Trial Court seeking interim bail for a period of 3 days under Section 439(1) of the Cr.P.C, to participate and arrange the 40th day prayer of the departed soul of his sister. The said application was dismissed vide the impugned order, leading him to file the appeal before the High Court.

Reasoning

The Bench took note of the fact that the Trial Court vide an order dated April 16, 2026, permitted the appellant to attend the ceremony of his deceased sister. However, immediately thereafter, the appellant filed the application seeking interim bail for a period of three days to attend the 40th-day ceremony.

The Bench was of the view that the Trial Court was right in rejecting the application as the appellant assigned no cogent reason as to why a similar application had to be entertained once again, especially when the trial of the case was at the fag end, and the offences alleged against the appellant were serious.

Thus, finding no merit in the appeal, the Bench dismissed the same.

Cause Title: Irfan Pasha v. National Investigation Agency (Neutral Citation: 2026:KHC:24644-DB)

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Karnataka High CourtJustice Sachin Shankar MagadumJustice Rajesh Rai K

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.