A Kerala court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of five persons accused of being part of a mob that attacked and damaged the vehicles carrying the ED officials who searched the rented home of former CM Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with a money laundering case against his daughter.

Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate-III Tania Mariam Jose denied the relief to the accused saying that granting of bail at this stage "will encourage them and other protesters to commit similar acts in future" and "will have a demoralising effect on society".

The court also said that the attack on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials can be treated as an offence against the state and that the "intention of the accused persons to cause death was easily identifiable from their acts".

"In this court's view the said attack created a consequence of fear, trauma and vulnerability to the officers of the ED and also to the driver of the vehicle in which they travelled. The dangerous weapons used by the accused persons were bricks, stones and sticks. The driver of the car suffered injury to both his eyes. This court cannot close its eyes towards the mental and physical stress suffered by the victims. This attack can be treated as an offence against state," it said.

The court also said that the attack cannot be considered as spontaneous.

It was of the view that there was a strong prima facie case against the five accused persons as the incident was an organised political attack and not an individual quarrel.

It also noted that the quantum of damages caused to the vehicles have been assessed as Rs three lakh, the investigation has just started, the test identification parade of the accused has not been conducted and a huge number of persons remain to be arrested in connection with the incident.

The court further observed that the public witnessed the incident through media, TV channels and became aware of the "mischief" caused by the alleged accused persons from newspapers, etc,. and therefore, the case can be treated as a rare one which has created an impact on the society.

"The interest of the victims and the society at large also has to be emphasised. So considering these reasons bail application is dismissed accordingly," the court said.

The accused sought bail on the grounds that reasons for arrest were not communicated to them and that he ED officials were not on duty at the time of incident.

The court rejected the contentions, saying that the it was clear from the records that the grounds for arrest were communicated to representatives, friends or family members of the accused as required under the law.

It also said that public servants are considered to be on duty from the time they enter the office till their exit from there.

"In this case the officers of Enforcement Directorate conducted search at the house of leader of opposition (Vijayan) and the alleged incident happened on the way of their return to their concerned offices. So it can be presumed that at the time of happening of the incident they were in discharge of their official duties," the court said.

Around 300 people were booked by the police for the violent attack on the ED officials' vehicles as they were coming out of the rented home of Vijayan following a search there.

The ED searches were linked to financial dealings between Vijayan's daughter's firm and a sand mining company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL).

A total of 10 premises in Kerala, including Vijayan's rented residence in Thiruvananthapuram and his permanent residence in Kannur, were searched by the ED on Wednesday as part of its investigation into the CMRL money laundering case involving his daughter Veena T.