Withdraw case against Speaker, ministers

CHENNAI: The City Public Prosecutor (CPP) attached to the Sessions Court on Tuesday produced a copy of a GO, which decided to withdraw the defamation case registered during the previous DMK regime against Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar, ministers O Panneerselvam, KA Sengottaiyan and AIADMK MP Manoj Pandian.To a query from P Devdass, Principal Sessions Judge, before whom the case was pending, S Muthuraj, the counsel for the four accused persons, replied that he had no objection for granting the prayer of withdrawal of the case. And the judge said that he will pass orders on Wednesday.Earlier, during the DMK rule, the then city public prosecutor lodged a complaint against the four for issuing a statement to the effect that the (DMK) government was attempting to destroy important files and documents under the guise of  shifting the Secretariat from Fort St George to the new building in Omandoorar Government Estate. The statement was per se defamatory, the CPP had alleged.