Murder witness fears for life, seeks trial outside district

KOCHI: A 63-year-old man who is a key witness in the murder of a CPM sympathizer at Kuzhalmannam in Palakkad has approached the Kerala high court to transfer the case out of Palakkad citing threat to his life. The high court has directed the trial court to view the threat seriously.
The petition seeking transfer was filed by Velunni K of Kannanoor who is the key prosecution witness in the case related to murder of his son Sivadas by a gang at Kuzhalmannam in June last year.
First accused in the murder of Sivadas was Prakash, a ‘quotation’ gang leader with over 80 cases registered against him. He was also placed under preventive detention under ‘Goonda Act’ earlier.
However, he was stabbed to death near the sub jail at Tipu Fort in November last year when he was escorted by two police officers to the district court in handcuffs.
In the petition to the high court through advocate Rajit, the witness sought a transfer of the committal proceedings in Sivadas murder case to any competent court outside the jurisdiction of Palakkad sessions court.
Committal proceedings are a court hearing in cases involving serious offences to decide whether prosecution has enough evidence to conduct a trial.
At the high court, key witness Velunni alleged that if the case is tried in Palakkad, he and other witnesses may not be able to give evidence in the case in view of the serious threats made by the accused.
Considering the petition, Justice P Ubaid directed, “The apprehension of the petitioner cannot in fact be ignored by this court or other court where the case is pending. Even if a transfer as such is not felt necessary, the trial court will have to seriously look into the allegation of threat from the side of the accused, when the case comes up for trial.”