Gokulraj murder: Judges to visit Tiruchengode Arthanareeswarar temple

CHENNAI: To understand the topography of the Tiruchengode Arulmigu Arthanareeswarar hill temple where a scheduled caste youth Gokulraj, a victim of caste-based murder was last seen with his assailants according to the prosecution, a division bench of Madras High Court Friday decided to visit the temple in person on January 22 to assess its topography.

The bench comprising Justice MS Ramesh and Justice N Anand Venkatesh made the decision on hearing the batch of appeals preferred by 10 life-term convicts including S Yuvaraj, president of Maaveeran Dheeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai.

The appellants sought direction to set aside the trial court's order of sentencing them to life-term jail imprisonment for murdering V Gokulraj in June 2015.

The deceased youth's mother V Chitra and CB-CID have also filed appeals challenging the acquittal of one Sankar and five of his associates in the case.

Since the lonely witness in the Swathi turned hostile in the case and made false submissions before the court, the court initiated criminal contempt proceedings against her.

On Friday, the judges first heard the contempt case against Swathi. Though the court summoned her to appear in person, Swathi's counsel noted that she was not in a position to come to HC due to her pregnancy–related issues.

Recording the submissions, the judges observed that the counsel for the woman shall file a memo in this connection. The court has also framed charges against Swathi under the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971 for misleading the court and making false statements.

After this, the bench was hearing the appeals of Gokulraj's mother and the police. Advocate Lajapathi Roy who advanced the arguments submitted that when the deceased was speaking with Swathi, the first accused Yuvaraj and others took him into the temple.

He further said that the accused abducted the youth, tortured and murdered him then.

He further noted that a suicide note left by Gokulraj was fabricated. "The memory card was taken out from the deceased's phone and it was inserted into the phone of the second accused. The accused forced him to give a statement and the same was recorded on the second accused's mobile as if Gokulraj committed suicide," the advocate submitted.

The advocate also added that Yuvaraj confessed in TV interviews that he intervened when Gokulraj was speaking with Swathi nearby the temple.

He further highlighted that the assailants going into the temple with Gokulraj was recorded on CCTV. Recording the submissions, Justice Anand Venkatesh asked when the accused and the deceased came out from the temple. The judges further questioned how many entries and exits are there for the temple.

"We would visit the temple on January 22 to assess the topography of the temple as the prosecution and the appellant from the deceased family say that the assailants had taken the deceased into the temple and they murdered him the next day,” the court observed.

On June 24, 2015, Gokulraj's body was found near a railway track in Pallapatti, Namakkal. Gokulraj was last seen with Swathi, his college friend, in Tiruchengode temple.

The matter has been adjourned to January 20.