The Madras High Court has ordered four years rigorous imprisonment for the then DSP V Rajaram in the 2007 Dinakaran newspaper office attack.
The Madurai bench of the court awarded the punishment on Monday to V Rajaram, who was the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the time of the incident, for failing to act against the attackers. On Thursday, the court had convicted 10 persons, including ‘Attack’ Pandi, a close aide of MK Alagiri, and had ordered life imprisonment for nine convicts. The tenth convict was V Rajaram, who was directed to appear in the court on Monday for the pronouncement of his sentence. In the court, Rajaram claimed that he was made a scapegoat and requested for a minimum punishment.
The CBI had charged 17 persons in the case of which 10 were convicted by the High Court. While six others were acquitted in the case, another accused died during the course of the trial. The court, on Thursday, had also ordered the state government to award a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the employees who lost their lives in the attack.
Madurai’s Dinakaran press office was attacked after the newspaper published two surveys. While one of the surveys claimed Dayanidhi Maran to be the most effective union minister from Tamil Nadu, the other one claimed MK Stalin was Karunanidhi’s heir. The second survey also gave minimal votes for Karunanidhi’s other children MK Alagiri and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.
On May 9, 2007, a mob hurled petrol bombs at the Dinakaran office in the outskirts of Madurai, which left three employees dead. The survey caused major rift between the family of Karunanidhi and Maran, which led to Dayanidhi Maran being forced to step down from his ministerial post. After the attack, Karunanidhi had also given a clean chit to his son MK Alagiri. The families reconciled a few months later.