Assembly ruckus case: System engineer identifies all six accused in court

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: C. Shyam, a system engineer with the Kerala Legislative Assembly, identified the former ministers and MLAs accused in the Assembly ruckus case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. He named all six accused during his testimony. Shyam told the court that footage of the incident was initially recorded on DVDs and preserved as part of the Assembly's official records. Copies of the recordings were subsequently made and handed over to the investigating officer in the presence of forensic laboratory officials, following a request from the officer. He also testified that the Assembly has eight CCTV cameras and that footage from these cameras had been copied and handed over. Shyam identified the three DVDs containing the footage before the court.

Meanwhile, P.D. Sarangadharan, former Assembly Secretary, the complainant and the first witness in the case, filed a petition seeking permission to testify through video conferencing, citing his inability to appear in person.

The prosecution and the defence filed separate petitions seeking to have Sarangadharan examined before the other witnesses. Following this, the court postponed the cross-examination of Shyam, the third witness in the case. The court will pass orders on the petitions on November 10.

The accused facing trial are former ministers K.T. Jaleel, E.P. Jayarajan and V. Sivankutty, and former MLAs K. Ajith, K. Kunhammed and C.K. Sadasivan.

Former Goa governor Sreedharan Pillai returns to court as lawyer

P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, former Governor of Goa, returned to court as a practising lawyer. He appeared on behalf of K. Ajith, the first accused in the Assembly scuffle case and a former MLA. Ajith, a former CPI leader, is now a BJP leader. Sreedharan Pillai appeared in court along with his son Arjun Sreedhar, who is also a High Court lawyer. Sreedharan Pillai said he had returned to legal practice because the Governor's post does not carry a pension.