The Hindu : Front Page : Ravi Subramaniam turns approver

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Friday, Jan 21, 2005

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Ravi Subramaniam turns approver

By Our Staff Reporter

KANCHEEPURAM, JAN. 20. Ravi Subramaniam, one of the prime accused in the Sankararaman murder case, today turned approver by submitting his consent before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chengalpattu, S. Rangaraju.

He was produced before the CJM at 11 a.m. and was whisked away by police after he came out of the court 45 minutes later. Enquiries show that the accused had expressed his wish to turn approver under Sec. 306 of the Criminal Procedure Code. He was also informed by the court that he would not be let off on bail till the trial process was completed and that he would be included as an accused again if he turned hostile towards the prosecution during trial.

Charge sheet likely today

The charge sheet in the murder case is expected to be filed on Friday.

As per the sworn affidavit given by the Chief Investigation Officer, S. P. Sakthivelu, before the Judicial Magistrate Court-I on December 27, the building contractor, who remained elusive till December 25, was arrested by a team of police headed by the Koyambedu Police Inspector, R. Srinivasan, of the special investigation team, at 4-15 p.m. at a tourist home in Guruvayoor in Kerala on December 26. He was produced before the Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate-I, G. Uthamaraj, the next day. After remanding him for 15 days judicial custody, the court ordered police custody for him till 5 p.m. of December 29. Ravi Subramaniam was sent back to judicial custody till January 10 and lodged at the Cuddalore Central Prison on December 29 after the expiry of his police custody.

However, the next day, Ravi Subramaniam, offered to make a confessional statement before a magistrate under Sec. 164. He was produced before the Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate-II, V. Damodharan, on December 30 and was given 24 hours to rethink whether or not he should make the statement. He gave the confessional statement before the JM-II on December 31.

Ravi Subramaniam is the second accused in the case to make a confessional statement. The other was Kathiravan. Though he gave the confessional statement before the JM-II on November 16, Kathiravan retracted the same at the open court hall at the Judicial Magistrate Court-I when he was produced for a routine remand extension on November 24.

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