Notice to 17 accused in Dinakaran office case

MADURAI:  The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to 17 DMK men in the Dinakaran arson case.The newspaper, had, in 2007, published a survey, which claimed that DMK chief’s younger son M K Stalin was the favourite over his elder son M K Alagiri and was ready to take over the party’s leadership. Following the survey, Alagiri loyalists attacked Dinakaran office hurling bombs. In this arson, three employees - Gopi, Vinoth and Muthuramalingam - were burnt alive.  Othakadai police had registered complaints against 17 persons, including Attack Pandi (who is presently in Tiruchy jail in land grab cases) and Rajaram, who was the DSP of Othakadai at that time. The case was subsequently handed over to the CBI and Rajaraman, who was the DSP of Oomachikulum then, was also acquitted. The case came up for hearing at the Madurai District Court, which observed that there was no sufficient proof and released the 17 accused. The CBI appealed against the court order and claimed that the Othakadai police had sufficient evidence against the accused and that even video footage was available. In its petition, the CBI requested the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to quash the district court order.When the case came up for hearing before a division bench comprising justices P P S Janarthanaraja and Aruna Jegadeesan, the Bench accepted the CBI’s appeal for investigation and issued notices to the 17 accused.