A court in Chennai has refused to revoke a non-bailable arrest warrant for Sri Lankan Minister of Traditional Industries & Small Enterprise Development, Douglas Devananda.
Douglas is wanted in India for the shooting and killing of a lawyer in Chennai in 1986 and has been wanted for murder in the country since.
He has recently approached the court and requested a cancellation of the warrant and said thare may be a risk to him if he enters the Tamil Nadu for the trial.
Douglas proposed to hold the trial via video conference at the Indian high commission in Colombo, but Judge S Rajagopalan rejected this.
"The petitioner has not complied with the order of the high court. Further, the respondent (police) clearly and categorically questioned the identification of the person accused. The NBW is pending for long time," said the judge.
"Under these circumstances, after applying my judicial mind, it is concluded that the presence of the petitioner is essential, in order to ascertain his identity."
