Thanjavur Principal and Sessions Judge Meenakshi Sundaram passed orders on Friday discharging three of the 24 accused in the Kumbakonam Krishna School fire accident case. The discharged persons were Muthu Palanisamy, the then Chief Educational Officer of Thanjavur, Kannan, the then Director of Elementary Education and Tasildhar Paramasivam.
The judge said that these three, along with the others, had filed petitions to discharge them from the case. However, the judge dismissed the discharge petitions of the other 21 accused.
Among the accused in the case are Pulavar Palanisamy, founder of the school, Saraswathi Ammal, correspondent of the school, and Shanthalakshmi, Head Mistress of the school.
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The accident occurred on July 16, 2004. 94 children were killed in the accident while 18 others were injured. The case was handled by Kumbakonam Magistrate court at Kumbakonam and later shifted to Principal and Sessions Court at Thanjavur. In between, it was shifted to a fast track court and back again to the Principal and Sessions Court.