Trial begins in illegal possession of explosives for supply to LTTE

IG Vanniaperumal deposes before court; In all, there are 24 prosecution witnesses

March 11, 2014 05:02 pm | Updated May 19, 2016 08:04 am IST - TIRUCHI:

Trial has begun in the case relating to alleged possession of explosive substances illegally by three Sri Lankan Tamils here for supply to the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the District and Sessions Court.

The Inspector General of Police (Training), K. Vanniaperumal, who was the Tiruchi Commissioner of Police in 2010 when the Sri Lankan Tamils were arrested with the explosive substances, deposed before the court for over an hour on Tuesday.

The ‘Q’ Branch CID police had arrested the trio - Sathish, Ramesh and Selvaraj – near K. K. Nagar here in June, 2010, and seized over 4,500 electric and ordinary detonators from their possession.

They had illegally possessed the substances for supplying them to the LTTE via Rameswaram, according to the investigating agency sources.

A case was registered against them by the ‘Q’ Branch CID, Tiruchi unit, under IPC section 120 (b) (conspiracy) read with Sections 10 (b) (ii), 13 (1) (2) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and Section 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1908.

The three accused, who were residing outside the refugee camp, were subsequently released on bail and the prime accused, Sathish, is said to be absconding since then.

The charge-sheet was filed in November, 2012, and the trial commenced at the District and Sessions Court with the examination of five prosecution witnesses on Monday.

IG Vanniaperumal, who was the Commissioner of Police of Tiruchi city at the time of the arrest and seizure of explosive substances, had accorded sanction to prosecution in the case booked under the Explosives Act.

The two accused – Ramesh and Selvaraj- appeared before the court on Tuesday when five more prosecution witnesses were examined. There are in all 24 prosecution witnesses in the case including the investigating officer.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.