The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered the transfer of the trial in a murder case pending against DMK MP T.R.V.S. Ramesh, representing the Cuddalore constituency, from the Principal District and Sessions Court in Cuddalore to a co-equal court in Chengalpattu district.
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Justice N. Anand Venkatesh passed the order on a transfer plea moved by the murder victim G. Govindarasu’s son, G. Senthilvel, who had levelled various allegations against the MP and the other accused, and had apprehended that a fair trial may not be conducted against them in Cuddalore district.
The judge made it clear that he was not transferring the trial on the basis of any of the allegations made by the petitioner in the latter’s affidavit, but on the ground that it might not be fair to conduct the trial in Cuddalore district when the prime accused was a sitting MP representing the Cuddalore constituency.
After finding that the charges against the accused were yet to be framed in the murder case registered in 2021, the judge directed the Cuddalore Principal District Judge to transfer the case bundle forthwith to the Chengalpattu court, and ordered that the latter expedite the trial and complete it within six months.
The murder case was filed following the death of an employee, under suspicious circumstances, in a cashew processing unit owned by the MP at Panikankuppam in Cuddalore district. According to the prosecution, the victim was beaten up after he was suspected of having stolen 7 kg of cashew nuts.