Palakkad: The court found the accused guilty in the case of killing Madhu, an adivasi youth, accused of stealing rice in Attapadi. Five years after Madhu was killed in a mob attack, the Mannarkkad SC and ST Court gave its verdict in the case.
The court stated that the first two accused Hussain and Maraikar were found guilty of murder. The other accused are Shamsuddin, Anish, Radhakrishnan, Siddique, Najeeb, Jaijumon, Abdul Karim, Sajeev, Harish, Biju and Muneer.
On February 22, 2018, Madhu, a tribal youth of Attapadi Anavai Katukamanna Ur, was killed. The case is that Madhu was beaten to death by a group of men on the charge of theft. There were 16 accused and all were charged with murder.
The verdict in the case came at the end of an eleven-month long trial. There were 127 witnesses in the charge sheet with more than 3000 pages. Among them, 24 people, including Madhu’s relatives, defected during the trial. The final hearing of the case was completed on March 10. In connection with the pronouncement of the verdict, heavy security arrangements were made in the court premises.
Four temporary employees of the Forest Department who defected were dismissed from their jobs. Meanwhile, some witnesses who defected came to the court and gave statements in favor of the prosecution. Mannarkatte also witnessed the rare occurrence of cross-examination of a defection witness during a special court hearing.
