The Lakshmikanthan murder case was a high-profile criminal trial that was conducted in the then Madras Presidency between November 1944 and April 1947. The cause of the trial was the murder of C. N. Lakshmikanthan, a Tamil film journalist. Lakshmikanthan was stabbed in Vepery, Madras, on 7 November 1944. He died the next morning in General Hospital, Madras. A criminal case was filed and a series of suspects were arrested. The suspects included Tamil film actors M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and N. S. Krishnan and director S. M. Sriramulu Naidu. While Naidu was acquitted, Bhagavathar and Krishnan were found guilty and convicted. Bhagavathar and Krishnan appealed to the Madras High Court, but their appeals were turned down. The duo remained in jail until 1947, when an appeal to the Judicial C