A local court in Kerala has issued an arrest warrant against Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan in connection with a defamation case filed against CPI (M) organ 'Desabhimani' in 2004, when he was its chief editor.
A First Class Judicial Magistrate court at Cherthala town, about 22 km from here, issued the order on Monday. The court has also issued arrest warrants against CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha P Karunakaran, who were printer and publisher and general manager of the daily respectively.
K K Anil Kumar, a 'melshanti' with a temple in Cherthala, filed the defamation case. In his complaint, he had alleged that the report published on December 24, 2004 in the daily-contained defamatory statements against him.
The reporter of the daily, Jayapradeep, was also listed as an accused in the case.
The one-month High Court stay on the case had expired and it had directed the accused to appear before the magistrate court. The respondents, including the chief minister, had failed to appear before the court after it issued summons to them.