Temple pujari suicide case witnessed a new twist as Special Public Prosecutor B. Mohan has opted to abstain from conducting the case citing poor cooperation from police.
He submitted a memo in the court here on Monday, stating that he withdrew his memo of appearance which was intimated to Collector T.N. Hariharan on June 16. An appeal was made to accept his memo and adjourn the case for three weeks.
Principal District Judge R. Poornima adjourned the case till June 27, and passed the information to the High Court for further action.
In his memo, Mr. Mohan said that he was very much disappointed and therefore sent a letter to the Collector saying he was resigning due to his inability to do justice to the victim and his family in the case. The court also insisted on conducting the case on a daily basis as per the direction of the High Court, even though all witnesses, except the investigation officer, were examined.
A petition was filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to summon four police witnesses as accused, but the petition was dismissed as “the SPP had no right to file the petition except through sending a letter to the SP with advice to approach the High Court”.
The Investigation Officer, DSP Uma Maheswaran, who was ill on June 16, attended the court the next day without giving any information to him in advance, the SPP said in his memo. Earlier, he met the Collector and expressed his inability to continue as SPP in the case.
Mr. Mohan was appointed as SPP on March 9, 2016. Theni District Court had transferred the case to Dindigul District Court on November 25 last year. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Dindigul court to complete the case within four months.
The case pertains to the suicide of S. Nagamuthu (22) of T. Kallupatti, a Dalit, who worked as pujari in Sri Kailasanathar Hill Temple in Periyakulam, on December 8, 2012, after he was allegedly subjected to harassment.
