The State government has decided to go on appeal against the acquittal of all 13 accused, including former Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers, M.K. Alagiri, in the 2003 murder of former State minister, T. Kiruttinan.
The Madurai city police will soon approach the Supreme Court “against the acquittal of the accused in the murder case by the Chittoor court,” Commissioner of Police Sanjay Mathur told The Hindu . The police have taken the decision after taking legal opinion.
A police official said the move to approach the Supreme Court was necessitated by the huge delay in filing the appeal, as five years have lapsed since the Principal District and Sessions Court in Chittoor acquitted all the accused in May 2008. This delay would have to be condoned. Also, the trial took place in Andhra Pradesh based on a Supreme Court order.
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AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa during an Assembly election campaign here on April 03, 2011 promised the people of Madurai that she would re-open the case, if her party was elected to power.
T. Kiruttinan was the Minister for Highways Department in the M. Karunanidhi Cabinet (1996-2001). He was hacked to death near his K.K. Nagar residence here on 20 May 2003, while returning from an early morning walk.
The next day, the Anna Nagar police arrested Mr. Alagiri on charges of conspiracy in the murder due to intra-party rivalry.
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Among the other accused are P.M. Mannan (who later became the Deputy Mayor of Madurai city), Essar Gobi, I. Mubaraq Manthiri (sitting councillor of Madurai Corporation) and V. Sivakumar alias ‘Karate’ Siva.
Mr. Alagiri, cited as prime accused in the case, and others were charged under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, murder and abetment to commit the offence.
After the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came to power in Tamil Nadu in 2006, the case was transferred to Chittoor after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam sought the Supreme Court’s intervention.
The AIADMK contended that justice might not be done and fair play could be denied if the trial of the case was conducted in a court in Tamil Nadu, as Mr. Alagiri’s father, M. Karunanidhi, was then the Chief Minister and sought the transfer of case to some other State.