The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Chittoor Sessions court acquitting former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri and 12 others in the Tha. Krishnan murder case.
In its special leave petition filed by counsel Yogesh Khanna after over five years, the State said it was constrained to file appeal directly against the judgment dated May 8, 2008 of the trial court, as the State had no other remedy.
It said the case was transferred to Chittoor by the Supreme Court in August 2007. “Mr. Alagiri is the son of the former Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu and his father was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu during the period of trial in Andhra Pradesh. The party in power in Tamil Nadu during the trial was also an important constituent of the UPA government, which is in power.”
The SLP explaining the reason for delay said “It is also pertinent to mention that in Andhra Pradesh the Congress, which is the main party in the UPA government, was in power at the relevant time.
All the witnesses barring Muthuramalingam, (the petitioner in the transfer Petition), PW74and PW75 turned hostile. It is surprising that witnesses who had given statement under 164 Cr.P.C before the Magistrate turned hostile in the court. What is more, the witnesses who turned hostile were not even confronted with their statements made under Section 164 Cr.P.C. As a result, the trial got vitiated and all the accused were acquitted.”
The SLP said thereafter Tamil Nadu, which was ruled by the DMK, did not direct the Public Prosecutor to file an appeal. Instead, the State government sought an opinion from the Public Prosecutor, Chittoor as to whether an appeal should be preferred against the order of acquittal.
The Public Prosecutor opined that there were no sufficient grounds to prefer any appeal. After the AIADMK government came to power, the government by a letter on January 5, 2011 requested the Andhra Pradesh State government to direct its Public Prosecutor to file an appeal before the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
