Rajkumar Case: All Accused Acquitted

Keymaterialevidencenotpresented

- S. P. Saravanan

The Third Additional District Court in Gobichettipalayam, Erode district, on Tuesday acquitted all the nine accused in the case relating to the abduction of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar and three others, by forest brigand Veerappan and his associates in July 2000.

The judge K. Mani pointed out that the prosecution had failed to submit key material evidence and the actor’s family members had not implicated any of the accused.

Rajkumar, who was taken hostage from his ancestral house in Doddagajanur in uphill Talavadi in Erode district, was held captive for 108 days, keeping the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on tenterhooks.