CHENNAI: A special court for MP/MLA cases on Monday acquitted 11 people, including former DMK MLA B Ranganathan, accused in the murder of a man who fought against land grabbing, in 2012 in Chennai.
“The prosecution has not proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and they are held not guilty of the charges levelled against them. Accordingly, they are acquitted of their respective charges,” special court judge K Ravi said in the judgment.
Ranganathan, A Syed Ibrahim, M Selvam, R Sathish, J Murali, L Kumar, P Thanikachalam, O Anandan, A Senthamizharasan, S Kesavan, and TRC Venkatesh were acquitted in the case.
Another accused, K Balachandran, died during pendency of trial. The special court judge found several lapses on part of the prosecution, as even an identification parade was not conducted to identify the accused.
The entire case was laid based on confessions said to be given by the accused and most of the prosecution witnesses turned hostile, the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the gang had hatched a conspiracy at the instance of Ranganathan to get rid of Bhuvaneswaran who had complained against them of land grabbing at Morai village near Avadi. Five from the gang waylaid him on January 10, 2021, when he was taking his daughter back from the school in Kolathur before assaulting him with deadly weapons. He died of grievous injuries.