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Serial blast case adjourned to July 15

By Our Staff Reporter

Coimbatore July 9. The Special Court judge trying the serial bomb blast cases, R. Sivakumar, has adjourned the proceedings in the case to July 15.

One hundred and thirtyeight of the 167 accused were produced before the court today amid tight security. Then the defence counsel moved an adjournment petition seeking time till the disposal of a revision petition pending before the Madras High Court.

The revision petition challenged an earlier order of the Special Court judge that dismissed a petition by two of the accused — Saleem and Mujibur Rehman — who sought change of defence counsel appointed by the State Government through the Legal Aid Services, as the counsel appointed for them withdrew from the case.

The judge, while dismissing their petition, had observed ``the court had reasons to believe that some of the accused had come to terms with the defence counsel for sharing their remuneration.''

The defence counsel moved the Chennai High Court and filed an adjournment petition. The matter was posted for the next hearing to July 15.

The special court has so far examined 98 witnesses in the last three months out of the 2,395 witnesses listed in the charge sheet. The court has so far appointed 27 State brief advocates (appointed by the Government through the Legal Aid Services), while there are seven private brief advocates appointed by the accused at their own cost. Only two of the accused (who had moved the court for change of counsel) are yet to have counsel appointed for them.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel, represented by B.B. Mohan and Abdul Rehman, told presspersons today that reports in a section of the press that counsel were in the habit of sharing their remuneration with the accused and their families were ``false and baseless.''

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