CJM ordered to end trial in 6 months

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Alappuzha Chief Judicial Magistrate to complete the trial of the criminal case in which IG Tomin J Thachankari is the prime accused within six months.Justice S S Satheesachandran pronounced the order, while considering a revision petition filed by Gopala Krishnan, a retired head constable of Alappuzha and a co-accused in the case, challenging the framing of charges in the custodial torture case.“Even after several unsuccessful attempts at various stages before different forums, the accused have made fresh moves in this regard.This indicates that there is a mischievous attempt to delay the completion of the trial of the case, which commenced nearly 15 years ago,” the court observed.The prosecution submitted that Thachankari and seven others are the accused in this case.Petitioner Gopala Krishnan is the eighth accused.The case was registered based on a private complaint by N Prakashan of Alappuzha, alleging custodial torture by the accused in connection with a suspicious murder case.In his private complaint filed in 1996, Prakashan alleged that the then Alappuzha Assistant Superintendent of Police Tomin Thachankari and other police officials had falsely implicated him in the case.As per the complaint, police officials assaulted and subjected him to various kinds of physical and mental tortures with a view to getting a confession.Later, the investigation into the custodial torture case was handed over to the Crime Branch.The probe revealed that Prakashan had no complicity in the death case.