New Delhi:
The Jayalalithaa government today approached the Supreme Court challenging the acquittal of DMK chief M Karunanidhi's son and former Union Minister MK Alagiri in a murder case.
Former DMK minister Tha Krishnan, who belonged to Mr Alagiri's brother MK Stalin's group, was murdered in May 2003 when he went for a morning walk. Mr Alagiri, an accused in the murder case, was acquitted by a trial court in Chitoor in Andhra Pradesh in May 2008.
The Jayalalithaa government, in its appeal in the Supreme Court, says the Tamil Nadu government did not appeal against the acquittal of Alagiri because the DMK government was in power in Tamil Nadu in 2008.
"Of the 82 witnesses, 64 turned hostile and most of them are state government officials and these happened because of pressure from the DMK government," the appeal says.
It adds: "The Tamil Nadu government in 2011 received a complaint from one of the witnesses that he was forced to turn hostile to help Alagiri... The Tamil nadu government wrote to Public Prosecutor in Andhra Pradesh about this complaint and asked him to appeal against Alagiri's acquittal, but the prosecutor said it is time barred and can't appeal."
The trial in the murder of former Minister Tha Krishnan was transferred to Chitoor by the Supreme Court in 2007 because the DMK government was in power in Tamil Nadu then.