MADURAI: Days after setting aside the acquittal of then deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Rajaram in the Dinakaran newspaper office arson case that left three people dead in 2007, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court sentenced him to four years imprisonment on Monday.On March 21, a division bench of Justices P N Prakash and B Pugalendhi sentenced nine people, including ‘Attack’ Pandi, former aide of M K Alagiri, to undergo life imprisonment in connection with the case. At the same time, the judges set aside Rajaram’s acquittal and directed him to appear before the court on March 25 to decide the quantum of sentence. The former DSP who appeared before the court on Monday urged the judges to hear him in the chambers. However, the judges refused, stating that he had already been convicted in the case.The judges then handed him four years jail term under section 221(1) of the IPC (intentionally omits to apprehend a suspect) and one-year jail term under section 217 of IPC (public servant disobeying law to save a person from punishment). The judges further directed the DSP to undergo the imprisonment concurrently following which Rajaram was taken straight to the jail.Dinakaran office at Madurai was torched by vandals on May 9, 2007, after it published the results of an opinion poll which suggested that M K Stalin had greater public approval as the political successor to DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi than his elder brother Alagiri. Three Dinakaran staff members — Vinoth Kumar, Gopinath and Muthuramalingam -— were killed in the incident.The case was later taken over by the CBI, which booked 17 people, including Rajaram, for facilitating the attack.

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