Chennai (PTI): The Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday staged a walkout protesting against refusal of the Speaker to permit them from raising the issue involving Justice R Reghupathy who had alleged that a Central Minister had tried to influence him in a forged marksheet case.

Soon after the question hour, Opposition parties tried to raise the issue demanding action against the Central Minister.

Law and PWD Minister Duraimurugan intervened and reiterated his earlier position that the government could take action against the minister only if the judge reveals his name.

However, Mr. Duraimurugan went on to refer to AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa's remarks about Judges in the House during her tenure as Chief Minister, which irked her party members who complained that the law minister was trying to divert the issue instead of replying to their demand.

When Speaker Avudaiappan refused permission to proceed further, AIADMK members led by their Whip K A Sengottian walked out of the House. Soon thereafter, AIADMK allies PMK, CPI, CPI-M and MDMK also joined the walk out.

Creating a stir, Justice Reghupathy had told an open court on Monday that a Union Minister had telephoned him, trying to influence him to grant anticipatory bail in the forged marksheet case involving a doctor and his son.

The CBI had filed a case against S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private medical college at Puducherry and his doctor father Krishnamoorthy for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middleman to inflate the marks of Shridhar.

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