PALAKKAD: The forest department terminated the service of watcher Sunil Kumar who turned hostile on Wednesday during the trial in the Madhu lynching case. Sunil was a temporary watcher in the Silent Valley division of the forest department. Earlier, he had told the police that he saw the accused bringing Madhu and also calling him “thief” all along and taking pictures and videos of him. However, he turned hostile at the Special court for Scheduled Castes and Tribes in Mannarkad and denied having seen Madhu that day.
It is in this context that the department initiated action against him.
Sunil is the 29th witness in the case. There was unusual drama in the court after his deposition.The prosecution then demanded the video of the incident be exhibited in the courtroom. While playing the video, Sunil said he was unable to see the visuals clearly. The video showed Sunil watching the incidents that day. As the visuals were clear, the court issued a direction to check his eyesight.
The eye test will be held at the district hospital in Palakkad and the report will be submitted in the court on Thursday. The trial court also directed Sunil to be present then. During examination, the 31st witness in the case also turned hostile. With this, the number of witnesses who have turned hostile reached 16.
After the trial in the Madhu case began, four temporary forest watchers had been terminated from service because they turned hostile during witness examination. Sunil Kumar was the fifth watcher to be sacked.
Those dismissed earlier are Anil Kumar, Abdhu, Razak and Kalimoopan.