Madurai: The Madurai Bench of Madras high court on Tuesday quashed criminal proceedings against former state agriculture minister S. S. (Agri) Krishnamoorthy before the judicial magistrate- I, Tirunelveli, in connection with the suicide of assistant executive engineer of agriculture department Muthukumarasamy.
Justice V. S. Ravi quashed the criminal proceedings on the ground there was no prima facie made out against Krishnamoorthy from the material submitted by deputy superintendent of police, CB-CID. In April last year, the judicial magistrate court I, Tirunelveli, remanded Krishnamoorthy and chief engineer of agriculture engineering department Senthil Kumar to judicial custody after CB-CID submitted the chargesheet charging them with abetting Muthukumarswamy to commit suicide.
The police also booked them under 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy ) IPC and under the Prevention of Corruption Act, for allegedly pressurising Muthukumarasamy to collect bribe for the appointment of seven drivers in agriculture department in Tirunelveli.
Contesting this, Krishnmoorthy moved the high court to call for the records and quash the case pending against him before the JM court. A. Ramesh, senior counsel, for the petitioner told the court that the charges framed against the former minister were not supported with proper material evidence. The CB-CID booked the petitioner under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, but there was no evidence to show either the minister or his assistant demanded money from candidates, he said.
Similarly, the police had also booked him for alleged criminal conspiracy alleging that Krishnamoorthy and Senthil Kumar conspired among themselves and decided to collect bribe from selected candidates at Rs 1.75 lakh each through executive engineers of the department. But from the statement of witnesses submitted before the magistrate, it became clear there was no direct evidence to prove that the petitioner demanded money, counsel said adding that the charges were framed based on hearsay which can’t be considered as legal evidence .
Shanmuga Velayutham who also appeared for the petitioner told the court that there was no evidence to suggest that Krishnamoorthy had any active participation in driving the deceased to commit suicide.
The state public prosecutor S. Shanmuga Velayutham argued there was direct evidence to prove the charges of criminal conspiracy and abetment of suicide
against the former minister. The judge said there was no prima facie in the case. Hence, the petitioner is entitled to get relief for the reasons and grounds stated in his petition.
