CHENNAI: The Madras High Court granted the hostile witness of the Gokulraj murder case Swathi to dispense with the physical presence before the court in a suo motu contempt case.

A division bench of the Madras High Court (MHC) comprising Justice M S Ramesh (from Madurai) and Justice N Anand Venkatesh heard the contempt case. While Swathi appeared before the court from Madurai with her toddler and submitted her counter affidavit before the court. Marking the counter affidavit, the bench dispensed with the presence of Swathi from the case proceedings and adjourned the case to November 3, 2023.

In June 2015 Gokulraj, a Dalit engineering student was abducted from the Arthanareeswarar temple Tiruchengode, Namakkal, and beheaded by Yuvaraj (Maaveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai Peravai) and his allies on mere suspicion that he was in love with a girl belonging to Kongu Vellalar community.

On March 8, 2022, the special court convicted 10 accused including Yuvaraj, and awarded a life sentence till death, while acquitting five others from the case.

However, the prime witness of the murder case, Swathi turned hostile during the course of the trial; she refused to identify the details in CCTV footage, which recorded the last minutes of Gokulraj before he was abducted. The MHC refused to accept her submission and initiated a suo-motu contempt case against Swathi.