The Thiruvanathapuram Additional District and Sessions Court VI suspended the trial in a murder case after detecting the absence of the approver’s statement among the records on Saturday.
The glaring lapse came to light when judge K. Vishnu considered the murder case of Kumar, a taxi driver, who was purportedly killed by a vehicle theft gang on March 22, 2003.
Five persons, Navas of Chithara, Jijesh and Muhammed Ashraf of Mattannoor, Mujahid of Bengaluru and Thomas Augustine of Kozhikode, were charged for the murder. Kumar, who was a native of Pangode, used to drive the car owned by one Shajahan of Kallara.
According to the prosecution led by additional district pleader M. Salahudeen, the gang hired the taxi from Kallara for a trip to the Calicut International Airport allegedly with the intention of stealing the vehicle. They purportedly strangled Kumar using a towel when the car had reached Changaramkulangara in Malappuram before dumping the body in the Mampuram canal in Tirurangadi.
The Pangode police had subsequently registered a man-missing case, which was later altered to include legal provisions of murder after Kumar’s body was recovered.
During investigation, the police had also nabbed a sixth accused, Kozhikode native Badarudeen after finding a SIM card, which had been used by Muhammed Ashraf, registered in his name. Badarudeen, who was named an accused in the conspiracy, sought permission to turn approver in the case in 2004.
The then Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate handed over the application to the Attingal First Class Magistrate Court I to record Badarudeen’s statement. However, the case was then transferred to the Thiruvananthapuram District Court, the trial court, without recording the statement. The lapse also went unnoticed by the investigation officer.
The court decided to suspend the trial after the prosecution expressed concern that the absence of the approver’s statement could weaken the case and enable the culprits to go scot-free. The trial will resume after resolving the technical lapse with the permission of the Kerala High Court, the court ruled.
