THOOTHUKUDI: Nine persons, including Subash Pannayar, were acquitted by the Additional Sessions Court, Thoothukudi, on Monday in the Jesintha Pandian murder case.
The other eight were idenitifed as Dhana Singh, Suresh, Sivalingam, Arulraj, Anthony, Thara Singh, Kumar and Mohan.
There were three others accused in the case. Of them, Senthil and Valan are still absconding and the third accused Maya died earlier.
All 12 were booked in the Jesintha Pandian murder case in 2006. Jesintha Pandian, wife of Pasupathy Pandian, founder of Devendra Kula Vellalar Federation, was murdered by a gang near Eppodumvenran in 2006 when she, along with her husband, was on their way to Thoothukudi by car. Subash Pannaiyar is the brother of Venkatesh Pannaiyar, founder of All-India Nadar Protection Forum. The two gangs, of Pasupathy Pandian and Venkatesh Pannayar, were involved in a series of fights in 1990s and even in the last decade. The gang war ended when Pasupathy Pandian was murdered by a gang at his residence in 2012.