In Kerela, a magistrate's court in Peerumedu in Idukki district on Saturday rejected a plea by the victim in the Suryanelli gangrape case for a fresh investigation into the alleged involvement of the Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. The court held that there is no new ground for a fresh probe.

The victim had filed a petition for a fresh probe in the light of the recent claim by Dharmarajan, one of the accused in the 1996 gangrape case and the only person to be convicted.

The court rejected the petition saying the points raised in the plea had already been enquired in to by police and no evidence was found against Kurien.

Dharmarajan suddenly appeared last month on a Malayalam television channel after absconding for several years and levelled the charge against Kurien. He was later tracked down and arrested by Kerala police in Karnataka.