Making submissions before Justice V Lakshminarayanan, State Public Prosecutor John Sathyan, assisted by Additional Public Prosecutor Arun Anbumani, informed the court that a chargesheet had been filed in one of the cases. The court was also informed that in connection with another case, in which multiple victims were involved, the SIT intended to file multiple chargesheets.

The SIT also submitted a status report informing the court of the progress of the investigation. Taking note of the report, the court said that substantial progress was being made and directed the High Court registry to keep the status report in a sealed cover.

The court was hearing a petition filed by investigative journalist Varaaki, in connection with the offence. Varaaki had initially approached the court seeking a CBI probe in the case. He had argued that high-ranking officials were involved in the case, and raised an apprehension that the SIT would not carry out the investigation independently & effectively, necessitating a probe by an independent agency.

The court had, however, refused to order a CBI probe, remarking that the SIT formed by the TN Government should be given a breathing time to collect all evidence in connection with the case.

The public prosecutor had also informed the court that the SIT has been issuing press releases and also submitted that it would file a status report before the court indicating the progress made by the SIT. When the matter was heard previously, the SIT had informed the court that it would be filing a chargesheet soon.

Following this, when the matter was taken up today, the court was informed that the first chargesheet had been filed.

When the court asked why the SIT was not holding a media briefing, the prosecutor submitted that it was possible that during a media briefing, the press might seek more information, which would ultimately lead to the publicising of sensitive information. The SIT, however, assured the court that it would brief the media after filing the remaining chargesheets.

Meanwhile, Varaaki also submitted some additional information with respect to the case. The Court directed Varaaki to submit any material that he comes across in connection with the case to the SIT and not wait till the court hearing to bring it to record.