Thiruvananthapuram: The police has initiated a case against two witnesses who had turned hostile in the Vijayaraghavan murder case of 2008 in which all accused were let off.
One accused, Arun Anand, was recently arrested for the death of the seven-year-old son of his woman friend after he brutally assaulted him at Thodupuzha. The four-year-old brother of the boy was also assaulted by Anand.
The eyewitnesses in the Vijayaraghavan murder case, Ashok Kumar, 52, son of Thankappan Pillai, and Eapen aias Ratnakumar, son of Louis of Karakulam, had turned hostile during the trial. Following this, the then government pleader and public prosecutor Pallichal S.K. Pramod had submitted a petition to prosecute the eyewitness for changing the statement in the court.
The issue came to the notice of city police commissioner Kori Sanjay Guruddin while examining the criminal history of Arun Anand. The matter was brought to the notice of judicial first class magistrate court- XI by the cantonment assistant commissioner as per the direction of the city police commissioner.
Summons have been issued to them. The trial over changing the statement will begin on June 20.
Anand, who was the sixth accused in the murder of his friend Vijayaraghavan during a booze party in an apartment near Nanthencode, was exonerated by the court.
