Douglas Devananda moves Madras HC
August 14, 2010 10:32 am
Minister for Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development, Douglas Devananda, approached the Madras High Court on Friday, urging it to stay the pending criminal cases against him that make him a wanted person and an absconding accused in India.
In his petition, Devananda pleaded with the High Court to set aside the order of the Additional Sessions Court in June, 1994, that deemed him a proclaimed offender and treated him as an absconding accused in a murder case.
The Lankan minister, whose visit to India as part of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s delegation in June prompted a petition in the HC demanding action against him under Indian laws over the pending cases, claimed the trial court failed to see there was an agreement between the two countries dated July 29, 1987, under which several Lankan nationals were repatriated. He “genuinely believed the cases registered against him were also dropped and he had no knowledge after 1987 agreement and after his expatriation to Sri Lanka”.
Express news service
In his petition, Devananda pleaded with the High Court to set aside the order of the Additional Sessions Court in June, 1994, that deemed him a proclaimed offender and treated him as an absconding accused in a murder case.
The Lankan minister, whose visit to India as part of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s delegation in June prompted a petition in the HC demanding action against him under Indian laws over the pending cases, claimed the trial court failed to see there was an agreement between the two countries dated July 29, 1987, under which several Lankan nationals were repatriated. He “genuinely believed the cases registered against him were also dropped and he had no knowledge after 1987 agreement and after his expatriation to Sri Lanka”.
Express news service
