The Special Additional District and Sessions Court (Marad cases) here, trying the murder case of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan has decided to write to the High Court of Kerala seeking more time for pronouncing the verdict.
R. Narayana Pisharadi, judge, announced this during trial on Tuesday. Earlier the High Court had directed the court to complete the trial and pronounce the verdict by July 31. The trial in the case began on February 11.
As of now only the deposition of the prosecution witnesses have been completed. The cross examination of two Deputy Superintendents of Police is yet to be completed.
After the cross examination, the court will have to start questioning the accused under Section 313 (power to examine the accused) under Code of Criminal Procedure. Their statements will have to be recorded.
Subsequently the defence counsels will be allowed to submit their list of witnesses on behalf of the accused to adduce evidence if any. The next stage will be the arguments between the prosecution and the defence counsels. The preparation of the verdict will also take time.
Meanwhile Jossy Cherian, Dy.SP., Vadakara, a member of the special team that probed the murder of Chandrasekharan, told the trial court during his cross-examination that he was able to identify that it was the RMP leader who was killed at Vallikkad near Onchiyam at 10.15 p.m. on May , 2012. Previously the prosecution witness had deposed before the court for three days. The defence counsel B. Raman Pillai cross-examined him.
The officer said that the evidence gathered from the crime spot revealed that the assailants had arrived in a Toyota Innova Multi Utility Vehicle. He denied that he had mentioned that one person had been hacked in the custody report of K.C. Ramachandran, member of the Kunnummakkara local committee of the CPI (M) when he was produced at the Kunnamangalam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on May 17, 2012. (Ramachandran was named eighth accused in the case).
Mr. Cherian said that the grave wounds and marks on the body on Chandrasekharan showed that he had been hacked with heavy and sharp weapons. This was mentioned in the mahassar report. Incidents of violence had taken place on the day Chandrasekharan had been killed. At least 100 houses at Vallikkad region came under attack.
A civil police officer, Manoj Kumar, who was deputed to guard the scene at the crime spot at Vallikkad, collected evidence from eye witnesses that the assailants had arrived in an Innova vehicle and attacked him after hitting Chandrasekharan’s motorbike. Later they hurled country made bombs at them, he said.
