Court grants bail to five more accused in Armstrong murder case as CBI probe drags

Five more persons accused in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party leader K. Armstrong have been granted mandatory bail, with the Principal Sessions Court in Chennai noting that the Central Bureau of Investigation is yet to file a final report and that the accused have been in prison for over two years without the trial commencing.

With this order, almost all those arrested and remanded in the case have now been enlarged on bail, sources said.

Armstrong was hacked to death by a gang of nine on the evening of July 5, 2024. He was rushed to Apollo Hospital on Greams Road but died on the way. The Sembium police registered a case on a complaint and formed special teams, arresting the suspects in quick succession. Thirty people, including three women, were cited as accused. Among them were gangsters Nagendran and Sambav Senthil. Nagendran later died of ill health, while another accused, Thiruvenkadam, was killed in an encounter. Sambav Senthil and his associate Mottai Krishnan remain absconding.

On September 24, 2025, the Madras High Court quashed the charge sheet filed by the Sembium police and transferred the investigation to the CBI, citing concerns over the thoroughness and impartiality of the State police probe. The State government subsequently withdrew its challenge before the Supreme Court.

More than 15 accused, including Aswathaman, were earlier enlarged on bail. The CBI took over the case and re-registered it as R.C. No. 09/S/2026 on August 6, 2026. Five more accused, including Manna alias Manivannan, then approached the Principal Sessions Court seeking bail.

Defence counsel Muthamizh Selvan submitted that the accused had been in judicial custody for more than two years and that the earlier charge sheet had been quashed. He argued that the CBI had not examined any witness for a considerable period after taking over the probe, and that continued incarceration violated the accused's right to a speedy investigation and trial.

The CBI Special Public Prosecutor opposed the petitions, submitting that the agency was actively investigating the case, including examining and re-examining crucial witnesses and scrutinising electronic records, financial transactions and the roles of untraced co-conspirators. Granting bail at this stage would jeopardise the investigation into the remaining conspiratorial links, the prosecutor submitted.

Allowing the bail petitions, Principal Sessions Judge B. Karthikyan observed that the CBI did not appear to have examined even a single witness during the month preceding the hearing. The judge noted that the earlier investigation had recorded the statements of 237 witnesses and said the extent of the material now before the CBI indicated the enormity of the task facing the agency.

"It does not appear that investigation would be completed in a short time," the judge observed. The judge also noted that the accused had already spent more than two years in custody and that the investigation remained at the FIR stage after the earlier final report was quashed.