The Madras High Court bench here on Monday ordered an interim stay on the proceedings of a murder trial in a lower court in Dindigul.
Justice A.Arumughaswamy issued the stay while hearing the case of T.Karthikeyan, the prime accused in the murder of Baskaran (73), a doctor, in Dindigul in the year 2009.
The prosecution claimed that Dr.Baskaran was kidnapped and murdered by Karthikeyan.
According to the petitioner, he filed a petition at the Additional District and Sessions Court in Dindigul seeking to stay the murder trial and permit him to submit additional evidence to prove his innocence.
The petition was dismissed after the court held that the petitioner was trying to delay the case, alleged W.Peter Rameshkumar, the counsel for the petitioner.
According to the counsel, the petitioner has been in jail for nearly four years and has not moved any court for bail. “The observation that he was trying to delay the trial is meaningless and baseless. Nobody would prefer to prolong the trial while in custody without bail,” he also contended.
The entire case was based on circumstantial evidence and there is no witness to the allegations of the prosecution, he argued.
Justice Arumughaswamy posted the case to Thursday for further hearing.