The Cherthala Judicial First Class Magistrate (Second Court), Sudhakanth, on Monday, issued a bailable arrest warrant against Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, P. Karunakaran, the CPI (M) MP from Kasaragod, and Jayapradeep, a reporter for the Desabhimani daily, in connection with a defamation case.
The case was regarding a report which appeared in the daily on December 25, 2004, during which Mr. Achuthanandan was the chief editor of the daily, Mr. Vijayan, the printer and publisher and Mr. Karunakaran, the general manager. K.K. Anilkumar, a ‘ melshanti ’ with a temple in Cherthala filed the complaint alleging that the report contained “defamatory statements against him”.
The daily had got a month’s temporary stay from the High Court. However, even after the stay period expired, the four did not appear before the magistrate court or apply for bail, following which the magistrate, while taking up the case once again on Monday, decided to issue the bailable arrest warrant, according to Mr. Anilkumar’s legal counsel, B. Balanandan.
