Hindu Munnani blast trial begins after 19 years

Nineteen years after a blast shook the Hindu Munnani office here killing two persons and injuring four, the trial in the case has begun at a local court. The blast on Tamil New Year Day on April 14, 1995 at the state headquarters of the Sangh Parivar group killed ‘Bible’ Shanmugam, a Munnani leader besides another who allegedly planted the bomb.

The trial in this decades-old case began at the Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Bomb Blast Cases at Poonamallee in Chennai on Tuesday. Two prosecution witnesses were examined by Special Public Prosecutor N Vijayaraj. The duo who were present at the time of occurrence of the blast recounted the sequence of the event.

The formal complaint lodged by one of them with police on the attack was marked as 'exhibit one' by the prosecutor.

While a third prosecution witness has died, summons have been issued to three other witnesses by the court. The case has been posted to October 29.

A charge sheet in the case was filed before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in 2011 and was later committed to the special court. Kaja Nijamudeen was the first accused in the case besides two other accused.

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