Ex-AIADMK minister, 7 others acquitted in bus burning case

MADURAI: Eight All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) men, including former minister V T Natarajan, have been acquitted by a court in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu in a 10-year-old bus burning case.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Balasubramanian on Friday acquitted all the eight accused, saying the prosecution had failed to prove the case against them.

The former minister and seven others were charged with burning the bus to protest the then arrest of party supremo J Jayalalithaa in connection with the Tansi land scam.

According to the case registered by police on December 7, 1996 a group led by Natarajan waylaid the bus, plying between Uppur and Thiruvadanai, before setting it ablaze.