The Hindu : Trial in bus burning case begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Trial in bus burning case begins

By Our Staff Reporter

SALEM OCT 27. The fresh trial in the case of Dharmapuri bus burning, in which three Tamil Nadu Agriculture University students died, began in the first additional sessions court here today.

A mob torched their college bus following the conviction of the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, in the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case. Of 31 accused, 30 appeared before the judge, Krishna Raja, who posted the matter for November 13. Meanwhile, important documents and records related to the case were shifted to the Salem court from Krishnagiri and put in safe custody. The trial, transferred from a Krishnagiri court, was to be conducted afresh from the beginning as per Madras High Court instructions. The High Court, based on a petition filed by N.P.Veerasamy, father of Kokilavani, one of the students who was burnt alive, described the trial in the Krishnagiri court a `colossal failure and eyewash'.

Justice V.Kanagarai also passed strictures on the police and the prosecution. He pointed out that all 22 witnesses examined in the Krishnagiri court turned hostile. He replaced the special public prosecutor, V.Krishnamoorthy, who conducted the case, with a senior advocate, R.Srinivasan.

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