The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Hearing in Chitralekha murder case from March 1

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hearing in Chitralekha murder case from March 1

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The First Fast Track Session Court will start hearing the Chitralekha Urs murder case from March 1. This is for the third time that a date is being fixed for the case. It was put off twice earlier.

Judge A.R. Deshpande on Tuesday finalised the date after a memo was filed by Special Public Prosecutor K. Janardhan stating the number of witnesses likely to be examined during the first phase of trial.

The court had first fixed the trial for October 4, 2005. It was then put off to January 20, 2006. Following legal challenges by the defence, the court again postponed it to an unspecified date. Now it has been fixed for March 1.

List of witnesses

Among the witnesses who would be examined include Chitralekha Urs' elder sister Hema Manganna; her husband Ashok Manganna. Chitralekha's mother Sharada Urs; and Chitralekha's second sister Nayan Tara.

The judge has issued summons to 28 people asking them to give evidence between March 1 and March 8.

Mr. Janardhan said that recording of evidence of 28 witnesses might extend beyond the period allotted by the court.

Chitralekha Urs, daughter of the former High Court Judge late M.P. Chandrakanth Raje Urs, was murdered on January 19, 2004. Her body was found in Shiradi Ghat, near Hassan, two months later. The First Fast Track Sessions Court has framed charges against the main accused Bharati Urs, daughter of the late Devaraja Urs, former Chief Minister. The court has also filed charges against the other two accused T. Madhukar and L.N. Chandrakant.

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