The Madras High Court has granted conditional bail to the accused S Sivasubramanian in the Mettupalayam wall collapse case. Seventeen people were killed after a compound wall collapsed and fell on their houses in Nadur village near Mettupalayam in the wee hours of December 2.

According to the bail order, Sivasubramanian shall reside in Madurai till further orders and has been ordered to sign at the Madurai bench for fulfilling his bail conditions.

On December 2, Nadur Village near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district woke up to the death of 17 persons living in the Adi Dravidar colony. A compound wall, which was raised behind their houses, had collapsed on the houses, causing them to cave in on the sleeping victims. The 20-feet-long, eight-feet-high wall had collapsed due to the heavy rains that had lashed the region on the night of December 1.

The incident sparked outrage in the state and many Dalit organisations organised a protest in Mettupalayam demanding justice for the victims. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu had announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased and had also promised a government job to a member of the family of the deceased. The government of Tamil Nadu had also promised to build new houses for the victims’ families free of cost.

A day after the incident, on December 3, the police arrested S Sivasubramanian, the owner of the property which had the compound wall. He was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 (ii) of the IPC) and under section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act and remanded to judicial custody.

Sivasubramanian’s bail plea was heard by Justice N Seshasayee in which the accused submitted that the wall collapsed due to heavy rains in the area and that he did not construct the wall with any other intention. He had also assured full cooperation to the police in the probe if the court grants him bail.