By Our Special Correspondent
Chittoor, May 8: Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s son and DMK strongman M.K. Azhagiri was acquitted in the Tha. Kiruttinan murder case by the sessions court here on Thursday, ending a long court battle that agonised Tamil Nadu’s first family since his arrest as the prime accused in May 2003.
Judge P. Durga Prasad set free the remaining 12 accused as well, including Madurai deputy mayor P.M. Mannan, alias Madurai Mannan, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The court complex burst into celebrations as over 1,000 followers of Mr Azhagiri, who had come from his Madurai headquarters in about 200 vehicles, hugged each other, burst crackers and distributed sweets. Their hero found it tough to wade through the milling crowd. Soon afterwards, some of the acquitted men and their close associates drove to Tirupati-Tirumala to worship at the Lord Venkateswara temple. Mr Azhagiri chose to remain in the hotel room at the foothill while the rest climbed the Seven Hills for thanksgiving prayers. The DMK believes in rationalism and Mr Karunanidhi has long been a staunch campaigner of atheism.
Tha. Kittunan was hacked to death while on a morning walk near his house in Madurai on May 20, 2003 by a group of hired killers. The murder happened at the height of internal squabbles during the organisational elections in the DMK. A former minister with considerable clout in the party in the southern districts where Mr Azhagiri was trying to establish his fiefdom, Kittunan was considered close to the party’s prince-in-waiting Stalin, Mr Azhagiri’s younger brother.
The then Jayalalithaa government arrested Mr Azhagiri the day after the murder, charging him with setting his hirelings upon Kittunan to prevent him from emerging as a stronger force in the party in the south and thereby defeat his designs to wrench the leadership from brother Stalin. It was a time when Mr Azhagiri was having problems even with his father over the latter’s decision to back Mr Stalin to succeed him. There were even rumours that he worked against the party candidates in the 2001 state elections. But, since then, the differences have been patched up as Mr Azhagiri accepted the ascension of his younger brother and in turn appeared to have been assured of control of the party units in the south.
The Supreme Court last August transferred the murder case to Chittoor following petitions from two prosecution witnesses, Muthuramalingam and Suresh Kumar, who feared that the trial would not be fair and free if allowed to continue in Madurai, where Mr Azhagiri enjoyed huge political clout. In ordering the transfer, the Supreme Court had remarked that its decision was not because the father of the accused was the chief minister of the state but as Mr Azhagiri was an acknowledged leader in Madurai.
The prosecution examined 114 witnesses during the sensational trial, 82 of them without a break, including the 13 accused, between March 12 and April 24 this year. There was a large deployment of police at the court and elsewhere in Chittoor to prevent any untoward incidents after the verdict.
