Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to 86-year-old Fr Anthappa, who is an accused in the murder of 62-year-old Fr K J Thomas, the rector of St Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bengaluru.

The bail was granted on health grounds as he is wheelchair-bound.

However, the court refused to grant bail to another accused Rita Reeni, the editor of ‘Mathukate’, a Kannada magazine which champions the progressive needs of Catholic Christians in India.

Fr Thomas was murdered on March 31, 2013.