The Madras High Court on Tuesday quashed a criminal case booked against Murugan alias Sriharan, one of the life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, for being in possession of a mobile phone in the high security block of Vellore Central Prison on October 18, 2019.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar allowed a petition moved by the convict, through counsel P. Pugalenthi, and quashed the case pending before a judicial magistrate’s court in Vellore.
The petitioner contended that registration of the criminal case amounted to double jeopardy as he had already been punished under the prison rules.
He pointed out that the Superintendent of the Prison had invoked Rule 302 of the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, 1983, and divested Murugan of his prison privileges for three months. During that period, he was not allowed to meet his relatives, including his wife S. Nalini, a co-convict in the assassination case.
Therefore, the criminal case registered by the local police on the basis of a complaint filed by the jailor would amount to double jeopardy, the petitioner contended.
