Kodanad heist-murder case: Journo Mathew Samuel expunges portion of statement that implicated EPS

CHENNAI: Mathew Samuel, a Delhi-based journalist filed a memo expunging certain portions from his statement, which were objected to by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, before the Madras High Court in connection with a suit on Kodanad heist and murder case.

After perusing the memo, Justice G Jayachandran directed Palaniswami to file a response to the memo that Mathew submitted and posted the matter to January 9 for further proceedings.

In 2019, Palaniswami filed a defamation suit seeking damages of Rs 1.10 crore from Mathew Samuel and his crew members, as well as the Kodanad case accused V Sayan and C Valayar Manoj, for releasing a video accusing him of being involved in the Kodanad crime.

During the proceedings, the court appointed an advocate commissioner on the request of Palaniswami to record his evidence. After recording the evidence, written submissions were filed before the court. Objecting to certain portions contained in Mathew's written submission, Palaniswami filed an application demanding to expunge certain portions, as they went out of the scope and were allegedly scandalous and frivolous in nature.

Palaniswami objected to the written statement, noting that Samuel did not defend his allegation against him on facts but instead made malicious statements that were not relevant to the case. The AIADMK leader then sought to strike down the allegedly objectionable portions.