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Verdict in Selvaraj murder case on Dec. 20

By Our Staff Reporter

Coimbatore Dec. 9. The Fast Track Court II judge, R. Premkumar, posted the judgement in the traffic constable R. Selvaraj murder case to December 20.

Selvaraj was stabbed to death by fundamentalists at the Ukkadam Traffic junction on the night of November 29, 1997. The city witnessed sporadic incidents of violence.

Demanding justice and immediate action, the policemen struck work, forcing the administration to requisition the services of the army and para-military forces. In the violence unleashed by fundamentalists, belonging to the majority community, 17 members of a minority community were lynched.

The city police registered a case and arrested eight accused, while the ninth accused Coonoor Sahul died in a police firing. The charges against him abate. The police registered cases of unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, murder and rioting against these accused. As many as 35 witnesses were examined during the trial.

The defence counsels, M. Zachariah, and Sadakathullah, presented their final arguments before the court today.

The defence counsel for the first four accused, Bhavani Mohan, already completed his final arguments countering the arguments placed by the prosecution. The defence counsels wanted to know why the names of the five remaining accused did not figure in the FIR and in the subsequent statements. Even the first three prosecution witnesses, who were the three eyewitnesses to the murder, were giving evidences only against the first three accused. They charged the prosecution with having failed to explain how the names of other five figured in the case. The defence counsels wanted to know why an identification parade was not conducted.

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