CHENNAI: Six out of the nine accused, all belonging to Tamilar Liberation Army (TLA), were on Friday acquitted by the Madras High Court in the sensational police station attack case at Puthur in Cuddalore district, which rocked the State in 1991. One policeman died and three sustained serious injuries in the incident.
A bench of Justices S Nagamuthu and N Authinathan ordered the acquittal after holding that the evidence of one of the accused, who turned approver and treated as prosecution witness, is not trust-worthy. The evidence of the approver was not corroborated by other prosecution witnesses, the bench said.
The bench, however, confirmed the order dated March 24, 2014 of the Sessions Judge for Exclusive Trial of Bomb Blast Cases at Poonamallee, awarding life term in respect of the other three accused – Elavarasan @ Pandian @ Vallavan (Accused No. 8), Amulraj @ Selvam (A-3) and Kumar @ Gopal (A-4), as the other prosecution witnesses corroborated the evidence of the approver Elangomani.
One more accused Lenin @ Mahalingam @ Ganesan died during trial. There were a total of 11 accused in the case. According to prosecution, the accused conspired to steal weapons -- guns and ammunition -- from the Puthur police station to equip themselves. In the intervening night of April 7, 1991, they barged into the police station and attacked the personnel.