Madurai lawyers seek criminal proceedings against AIADMK men

 Lawyer’s Centre for Social Justice from Madurai has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to initiate criminal proceedings against AIADMK supporters and politicians.

The request comes in the wake of revelations made by senior counsel B V Acharya in his autobiography on circumstances that led to his resignation as Advocate General, and subsequently as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP), in the Jayalalitha wealth case.

In his autobiography, Acharya had stated that, “It appears BJP high command, on the pretext that I was holding two posts (AG and SPP), directed the State government to pursue me to quit as SPP. When consistent pressure was exerted on me in this regard, I decided to quit as Advocate General of the State.”

P Rathinam, senior advocate of Chennai High Court, said that a memorandum in this regard has been sent to the chief minister and also to the Home department.

“The autobiography contains a chapter under the title – Case Against Jayalalitha. From page number 206, he (Acharya) has clearly mentioned that he was under threat and pressure from the supporters of the accused and also by the members of the BJP in Delhi. It was a calculated attack on the judicial system. Hence, an FIR has to be registered on the basis of the narration by Acharya. Once the case is registered, Acharya will naturally co-operate with the police in the investigation as a witness,” he said.

The chapter on Jayalalitha wealth case is referred between page number 206 and 219 in the autobiography.

Acharya has given a chronological progress of the case, during his tenure as the SPP. He was appointed Advocate General of the State for the fifth time in August 2011, even as he was SPP in the Jayalalitha wealth case.

He stated in his book that even after quitting as AG, efforts continued to remove him as the SPP, and a private complaint filed before the Lokayukta special court was part of it.