Assault and KAAPA cases: Court denies bail to BJP Councillor R Sugathan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Nedumangad Magistrate Court has rejected two bail applications filed by R. Sugathan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor representing the Vazhottukonam ward in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The bail pleas were turned down in connection with two separate cases, including the assault of a local resident at Vellakadavu Junction in Vattiyoorkavu and an attack on police personnel who had arrived to arrest him under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA).

In the first case, Sugathan is accused of manhandling Prashanth, a native of Kulumala in Aruvipuram, at the Vattiyoorkavu Vellakadavu Junction. The second case pertains to his violent resistance and assault on law enforcement officers who attempted to take him into custody under KAAPA.

According to police records, Sugathan faces a total of 12 criminal cases, including 11 registered at the Vattiyoorkavu police station and one at Nedumangad. The charges against him span a wide range of serious offences, including six counts of attempted murder, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, assaulting police officers, house trespass, vandalism of vehicles, creating public terror, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, and causing grievous hurt using dangerous weapons.

Sugathan, who was previously booked under the stringent provisions of KAAPA, had been granted bail in 2025 under strict conditions. Following his release, he contested the local body elections and was elected as a councillor to the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.

However, his legal troubles escalated this past March during a temple festival. Sugathan and his associates allegedly attacked CPI(M) workers during a musical concert organised as part of the festival festivities. The police subsequently registered a case of attempted murder against Sugathan and his accomplices, after which he went into hiding.

Following a brief period of absconding, law enforcement officials surrounded his residence and arrested him on the 9th of last month. Sugathan is currently remanded in judicial custody and is lodged at the Viyyur Central Jail.