COLOMBO, Jan. 12 -- The Attorney General's Department on Monday (11) informed the Batticaloa High Court that it will not be pursuing the criminal case against Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, a Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province. The case pertains to the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Joseph Pararajasingham at St .Mary's Cathedral in Batticaloa on December 25, 2005.

With the Attorney General's decision Pillayan is expected to be released when the case comes up in the High Court on Wednesday (13).

Pillayan's case has always been that he was framed and jailed on the basis of inadmissible confessions made by two of his colleagues in his political party, the Tamil Makkal Vi...