Dinakaran attack: CBI appeals against order

Alagiri whose supporters were accused of staging the attack.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court with an appeal against a lower court verdict setting free 16 accused in the infamous Dinakaran attack case,setting in motion yet another move that may corner DMK leader and Union minister M K Alagiri whose supporters were accused of staging the attack.

Admitting the petition,the court issued notice and posted the matter for further hearing.

On May 9,2007,three employees were killed in the arson that followed the publication of a survey report in the daily owned by the Sun Group of the Marans that put Alagiri in the last of a list of possible heirs of DMK chief and his father M Karunanidhi. Alagiri was not an elected representative then,nor did he hold any position in the party.

In the flare-up that followed,the younger Maran lost his Cabinet post and the brothers were banished from the party and the family.

The CBI,which was entrusted with the investigation of the case,booked 17 persons including a deputy superintendent of police under various sections of the IPC.

However,they were acquitted by the Principal District and Sessions Court in 2009.