DINDIGUL
Principal District and Sessions Court Judge K. Murali Sankar on Monday adjourned till December 11 the case relating to suicide of temple pujari S. Nagamuthu (22), in which Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam’s brother O. Raja is one among the accused.
The judge adjourned the case after defence counsel M. Kannappan sought time to get clarification from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court over appointment of a new public prosecutor and guidelines to proceed further, as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) B. Mohan had resigned his post.
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The court had on November 6 adjourned the case till November 27 in order to get clarification from Collector T.G. Vinay over the appointment of the SPP.
The Collector, in his reply, stated that he did not receive any resignation letter from Mr. Mohan. However, the district administration had written to the government seeking its guidance on the issue, he said.
All the six accused were produced before the court on Monday.
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The defence counsel argued that Mr. Mohan had admitted in the court that he withdrew his memo of appearance owing to poor cooperation by police and handed over a copy to the Collector. Now the SPP had no locus standi to appear in the case, he said.
The SPP was appointed by the High Court and the court alone could issue clarification or guidelines on the issue, he stressed.
A total of 21 witnesses have been examined so far, and six of them turned hostile.
The case pertains to the suicide of Nagamuthu of T. Kallupatti village, a Dalit, who worked as pujari at Sri Kailasanathar Hill Temple in Periyakulam, on December 8, 2012, after he was allegedly subjected to harassment.
Theni District Court on November 25, 2015, transferred the case to the Dindigul court on the direction of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. One of the seven accused in the case, Pandi, died after a brief illness in June 2016.