CHENNAI: TN Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar, ministers O Panneerselvam, K A Sengottaiyan and AIADMK MP and advocate Manoj Pandian, against whom the previous DMK government had lodged a defamation complaint, were discharged from the case on Wednesday.Principal Sessions Judge (PSJ) P Devadass passed an order to this effect, after listening to S Muthuraj, the counsel for the Speaker and the ministers.Originally, the then city public prosecutor (CPP) M Shajahan had filed a complaint against the four before the PSJ. Their allegation to the Election Commission on the eve of May 13 elections that the DMK government, under the pretext of shifting the Secretariat from Fort St George to the new building in Omandoorar Government Estate, was attempting to destroy important files and documents, was per se defamatory, the CPP had alleged.The sitting CPP filed a petition to withdraw the case and on June 21 Muthuraj had produced before the PSJ, a copy of a GO, which stated that the government had decided to withdraw the case. The judge posted the matter on Wednesday for orders.On Wednesday, the PSJ said that he was permitting the CPP to withdraw the complaint. Consequently, the accused were discharged from the case, the PSJ added.
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