Former Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman was granted bail today by Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya over the alleged misuse of a state vehicle from January 2015 to August 2016.

He was released on a cash bail of Rs 1 million and four sureties of Rs 5 million each.

He was barred from foreign travel and was ordered to report to the FCID on each Sunday.

Karuna Amman had earlier requested for bail on security grounds since former LTTE members were also kept in prison. Meanwhile he maintains that he had written to the Presidential Secretariat, asking them to take away the vehicle which was under repairs. The FCID objected to this, saying that it was his responsibility to hand over the vehicle.