PALAKKAD: Dramatic scenes unfolded in the court on Thursday during the re-examination of the witnesses who earlier turned hostile in the Attapadi Madhu murder case. Two witnesses examined today changed their statements in favour of the prosecution. Kalimooppan and Kakki, the 18th and 19th witnesses in the case, were summoned by the Mannarkkad SC/ST court for re-examination. In the hearing held on July 30, both of them had given testimonies which were different from the statements they had given to the police earlier. The two hostile witnesses changed their statement in favour of the prosecution when they were re-examined by the court today.

Kakki, the 19th witness, told the court that during the time of the first examination, the accused were out on bail and that he changed his statement out of fear of them. Kakki, who apologized to the court for giving a statement in favour of the accused, admitted to the court that he saw them taking Madhu. He also admitted to telling the second accused that Madhu was in Ajamala. He also identified the accused during the re-examination of the witness.

Kakki later told the media that he felt guilty for defecting earlier and that he had been living with that guilt inside her. The defence lawyer had questioned in the court that Kakki and Kalimooppan had gone to meet the special prosecutor the day before the re-examination on October 20. When asked about this, Kakki replied that special prosecutor Rajesh M Menon said that they should repeat the statement they had given to the police in court tomorrow. However, the defence lawyer was not able to prove any mystery regarding this before the court.

Meanwhile, the Mannarkkad SC/ST trial court granted bail to 11 accused who were on remand in the Madhu murder case.