The prosecution in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case attempted to establish in the trial court on Friday that the photographs taken by a freelance photographer aimed at proving the alibi of some of the CPI(M) accused could be tampered with.
A photographer, P.M. Bhaskaran, of Geetha Studio at Orakkateri, had previously deposed before the court that he had taken photographs of the accused and others between 2.50 p.m. and 3.40 p.m. on April 20, 2012. This was the time mentioned by the prosecution that the accused had hatched the conspiracy at the flower shop owned by Padayankandi Raveendran, Orkatteri local committee member, of the CPI(M) at Orkatteri.
Replying to queries from the prosecution, Mr. Bhaskaran, a defence witness, admitted to R. Narayana Pisharadi, judge, Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad Cases) that the date and time of the photographs could be modified using adobe photoshop.
Previously he had produced a CD containing these photographs in the court. These were also viewed using an LED projector. However the prosecution argued and attempted to prove in court that the date of creation of photographs captured could be altered. The date of the pictures could even be changed to January 1, 2014. This was also shown via the LED projector.
Earlier a prosecution witness Suresh Babu, who was a plant operator at the Orkatteri Diary Co-operative Service Society, told the court that he overheard the conspiracy hatched by CPI (M) district secretariat member P. Mohanan, Onchiyam area secretary C. H. Ashokan, area committee member K. K. Krishnan and Kunnummakkara local committee member K. C. Ramachandran at the flower shop owned by Padayankandi Raveendran, Orkatteri local committee member, at Orkatteri on April 2, 2012.
The case pertained to a seven-member gang allegedly hired by the CPI (M) hacking to death the Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan at Vallikkad near Onchiyam on May 4, 2012.
But Mr. Bhaskaran testified that he had taken the photographs of CPI (M) leaders V.V. Dakshinamoorthy, T.P.Ramakrishnan, P. Mohanan, C.H. Ashokan, R. Gopalan, V. Balakrishnan and K.C. Ramachandran when they reached the Martyrdom Square.
The court also considered as documentary proof the photographs taken at 3.24, 3.25, 3.26, 3.30, 3.31, 3.32, 3.35 and 3.40 p.m.
One of the pictures showed Mr. Dakshinamoorthy handing over the lighted torch to Mohanan. The photographer had used the Nikon D-60 camera. Similarly, the modified versions of the photographs were also considered as exhibits.
