HC discharges ex-Minister others in case linked to Congress leaders murder
Kochi Mar 18 PTI The Kerala High Court on Friday discharged CPIM MLA and former Electricity Minister of the State M M Mani and two others in a case connected with the murder of Anchery Baby a Congress leader from Idukki in 1982 On an evaluation of the material available there is no ground for presuming that the accused committed the offence and therefore they were entitled to be discharged said Justice Sunil Thomas The High Court order came following revision petitions moved by Mani Kuttappan and O G Madhanan challenging dismissal by a Sessions Court of their plea for discharge in a 2012 case registered in connection with the murder of Anchery Baby In 1986 the Sessions Court acquitted all the nine accused in the murder case and the appeal of the State against the same was dismissed by the High Court in 1990 In 2012 Mani speaking at a public meeting in Idukki referred to several political killings including that of Baby and based on the speech a case was registered naming the CPIM leader as an accused in the murder of the Congress leader in 1982 In the 2012 case the prosecution projected three of the nine accused in the 1982 case as witnesses claiming that they were wrongly arrayed as accused in the earlier case But an eyewitness said the three accused turned witnesses were among the assailants who attacked Baby This is a self-contradictory and mutually damaging version to the prosecution case itself the High Court said It further said In the case at hand it is clear that a few witnesses have deposed touching on the complicity of the newly arrayed accused Mani and others At the same time they themselves reaffirmed the presence of some of the present prosecution witnesses who earlier stood arrayed as accused This not only strikes at the very base of the prosecution case but also tells on the credibility of them With these material a trial of accused is not possible In the result criminal revision petitions are allowed Impugned orders are set aside and the discharge application stands allowed All the revision petitioners accused stand discharged said the court PTI HMP NVG NVG
Kochi Mar 18 PTI The Kerala High Court on Friday discharged CPIM MLA and former Electricity Minister of the State M M Mani and two others in a case connected with the murder of Anchery Baby a Congress leader from Idukki in 1982 On an evaluation of the material available there is no ground for presuming that the accused committed the offence and therefore they were entitled to be discharged said Justice Sunil Thomas The High Court order came following revision petitions moved by Mani Kuttappan and O G Madhanan challenging dismissal by a Sessions Court of their plea for discharge in a 2012 case registered in connection with the murder of Anchery Baby In 1986 the Sessions Court acquitted all the nine accused in the murder case and the appeal of the State against the same was dismissed by the High Court in 1990 In 2012 Mani speaking at a public meeting in Idukki referred to several political killings including that of Baby and based on the speech a case was registered naming the CPIM leader as an accused in the murder of the Congress leader in 1982 In the 2012 case the prosecution projected three of the nine accused in the 1982 case as witnesses claiming that they were wrongly arrayed as accused in the earlier case But an eyewitness said the three accused turned witnesses were among the assailants who attacked Baby This is a self-contradictory and mutually damaging version to the prosecution case itself the High Court said It further said In the case at hand it is clear that a few witnesses have deposed touching on the complicity of the newly arrayed accused Mani and others At the same time they themselves reaffirmed the presence of some of the present prosecution witnesses who earlier stood arrayed as accused This not only strikes at the very base of the prosecution case but also tells on the credibility of them With these material a trial of accused is not possible In the result criminal revision petitions are allowed Impugned orders are set aside and the discharge application stands allowed All the revision petitioners accused stand discharged said the court PTI HMP NVG NVG
