MADURAI: Former inspector S Sridhar, who is one of the key accused in Sathankulam custodial death case, has moved a plea before the trial court seeking permission to become an approver. Also, he requested the judge to grant him pardon and discharge him from the case.
Sources said, the Additional District and Sessions Judge I, Madurai, G Muthukumaran, who is conducting the trial, directed the CBI to file a response to Sridhar's plea and adjourned the case to Thursday.
Sridhar filed the petition under Sections 306 and 307 of CrPC (Sections 343 and 344 in BNSS) which deals with tendering pardon to an accomplice of a criminal case at any stage before judgment, even when the trial is ongoing. Sridhar said if he is permitted to turn approver and become prosecution witness, he would fully disclose the true events that transpired on the fateful day, when P Jeyaraj and his son J Beniks were brutally assaulted by the other accused inside the police station.