2009 Newspaper Attack: Court sentences nine to life

In 2007, a succession battle had erupted in the DMK between MK Alagiri and MK Stalin-the sons of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. It was on May 9, 2007, that the newspaper had published results of a series of opinion polls conducted by AC Nielsen and Co, which suggested Stalin had greater public approval as the political successor of Karunanidhi than his elder brother Alagiri.

This had infuriated supporters of Alagiri and had later snowballed into protests in various parts of Madurai city. The protesters had burnt copies of the daily, raised slogans condemning the newspaper and its promoters. Police had been posted in large numbers in the vicinity of the newspaper office. However, protesters resorted to indiscriminate vandalism and arson and in the violence that ensued, the office went up in smoke and the three employees lost their lives.

Othakadai police had filed a case against the accused under Sections 147,148, 449, 136, 302, 307, 332 and 120 –B of the IPC, Sections 4 and 5 of the Explosives Act, 1908 and Section 4 of TNPPDL Act, 1992. Seventeen people, including the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), V Rajaram, were accused in the case, which was transferred to the CBI. The DSP was accused of being a mute spectator to the whole incident. The CBI probe was completed and a final report was handed over to the Madurai Chief Judicial Magistrate court on August 6, 2007.

Pursuant to committal proceedings, charges were framed by Madurai Principal Sessions Court on April 6, 2009 and trial began on August 5. In all, 83 prosecution witnesses were examined, of whom, 49 turned hostile. Of the 49 hostile witnesses, 21 were cops, one Revenue officer and 15 other witnesses were from the press and colleagues of the deceased. To prove the case, the prosecution examined 83 witnesses, marked 252 exhibits and 54 material objects. However, the trial court acquitted the accused of all charges on December 9, 2009.

When a petition challenging the trial court order filed by the CBI came up for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices PN Prakash and B Pugalendhi, the bench convicted VP Pandi alias Attack Pandi, Prabhu alias Arogya Prabhu, Vijaya Pandi, P Kandasamy, G Ramaiah Pandian, V Sudhakar, Thirumurugan alias Kattuvasi Murugan, I Ruban and Malik Batcha. The bench summoned DSP Rajaram to appear on March 25.

The Dinakaran newspaper office was attacked by a firebom, which resulted in deaths of 3 employees

The attack was a response to a survey published by Dinakaran on who people preferred as the future heir ofM Karunanidhi, the then DMK chief

There were mass protests throughout the region, 17 people were charged by the CBI, but were all acquitted by the district court