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Case against Bellarmin dismissed as withdrawn

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 8. The Madras High Court today dismissed as withdrawn a petition seeking a CB-CID probe into a murder case, in which A.V. Bellarmin, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Nagercoil parliamentary constituency candidate, has been cited as an accused.

According to the petitioner, Chellathai of Karunthankodu in Kalkulam taluk, her husband Arumugaperumal was found murdered on October 15, 1996. The police, who initially registered a case of suspicious death, altered it into murder later. After the case was transferred to the district crime branch, seven persons, including Mr. Bellarmin, were arraigned as accused. In 1997, the case was once again transferred to the Eraniel police.

Ms. Chellathai alleged that the police did not take any effective steps to arrest the accused and that they were planning to close the investigation soon. She accused the police of ``colluding with the accused and planning to remove Mr. Bellarmin from the case.''

Refuting the charges, Mr. Bellarmin filed a petition to implead him as a party to the case. He pointed out that he had been fielded as the Democratic Progressive Alliance candidate in Nagercoil, and added that Ms. Chellathai suppressed the information in her affidavit. She approached the court only after his candidature was announced, Mr. Bellarmin said, adding wide publicity was being given to the case by his political rivals to damage his prospects.

Referring to the fact that Ms. Chellathai had done nothing for the past seven years, he said, ``the timing of the petition camouflaging the details (about Mr. Bellarmin) smacks of a mala fide intention on the part of the widow, who is being used as a tool by some political adversaries.''

When the matter came up before Justice S. Ashok Kumar, counsel for Ms. Chellathai offered to withdraw the petition. Allowing the plea, the judge dismissed it as withdrawn.

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