The daylight murder of Shankar in public glare in Udumalpet was among the most horrific caste killings in Tamil Nadu. The trial court had awarded death sentence to six accused, life term to one and five years of imprisonment to one more accused in the case. The Division Bench led by Justice Sathyanarayanan dismissed the State appeal and allowed the appeal preferred by Mr. Chinnasamy on the ground that neither the charge of criminal conspiracy nor that of murder stood proved against him. Since he was still in prison, he was ordered to be released forthwith. Appeals preferred by two members of the gang K. Dhanraj alias Tamil alias Stephen Dhanraj and M. Manikandan were also allowed and their life as well as five years of sentences respectively were set aside.

Source: The Hindu June 22, 2020 19:11 UTC