Acid attack on IAS officer that sent shockwaves across the country

IAS officer V.S. Chandralekha attacked with acid, leading to a complex investigation and legal proceedings.

At 10.45 a.m. on May 19, 1992, a Tuesday, IAS officer V.S. Chandralekha, who was the Commissioner of Archives in Tamil Nadu, was going in a car to her office near the Egmore railway station. Because of heavy traffic, driver Prem Kumar slowed the car down on Gandhi-Irwin Road in front of the railway station. Suddenly a person standing on the road flung a bottle containing acid at her through the partially rolled-down glass shutter. Prem Kumar caught him after a chase.

Mahendran, a constable attached to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing, who was passing the area, made enquiries with Ms. Chandralekha, who requested him to take her to hospital. The constable admitted her to Apollo Hospitals and informed the police control room of the incident. She sustained roughly 15% burns. City Police Commissioner R. Rajagopalan said the lone assailant who was caught had identified himself as Chota More, 20, of Bombay. Two others who accompanied him escaped and someone had set them upon her, he said. A test indicated that it was sulphuric acid, The Hindu reported.

Ms. Chandralekha, who had been made the chairperson of TIDCO after the AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa came to power, had only been transferred back to her old posting as the Commissioner of Archives. The interrogation of the arrested person, More, pointed to the suspicion that a motorcycle and a scooter had been used by a gang of assailants, led by Surla alias Sudalaimuthu, 30, from Bombay.

More, a resident of Bandup, failed to clear the matriculation examination. Then he became an anti-social element. He came into contact with Surla. Surla had allegedly promised each member of the gang ₹20,000 if the attack was successful. Ten days ahead, the gang came down to the city and stayed in a lodge on Kennet Lane, opposite the Police Commissioner’s office. It later shifted to a lodge on Wall Tax Road. For more than 10 days, the assailants kept an eye on the route taken by Ms. Chandralekha to her office and noted where she alighted from the vehicle on the office premises. The members waited near the Lighthouse on the Marina in the morning till her car sped past them. While Surla and More overtook the car and went ahead of it on a scooter, Annadurai and Sunilkumar followed it on a motorcycle, the police alleged. Retired Director-General of Police R.Thilagavathi said, “She was the first woman Collector in the State during the tenure of Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran and was posted to South Arcot district. She was a sprightly and bold person. Her career was cut short by this incident. Then there was a situation wherein no IAS/IPS officer could visit her. But I visited her at Apollo Hospitals. She thought somebody had come near [her car] to distribute pamphlets.”

The incident sent shock waves across the country. Ms. Chandralekha was in disagreement with Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close associate Sasikala over TIDCO disinvestment. On November 9, Ms. Chandralekha resigned from government service and joined the Tamizhaga Nallatchi lyyakkam, led by Subramanian Swamy. She demanded an independent inter-State inquiry, which alone, she said, could establish the forces that were behind the attack. Ms. Chandralekha said the Comptroller and Auditor-General was bound to pull up the government in respect of TIDCO’s disinvestment move. She felt that the attack was carried out to demoralise the bureaucracy and intended to be a lesson for anyone “attempting to challenge or question” any government decision. Initially, the Egmore police filed a charge sheet, citing Pandit Chokka More, 20, of Millind Nagar, Bandup, Bombay (the first accused); Anna alias Annadurai, 25, of Sarvodaya Nagar, Bandup, Bombay (the second accused); and Sunil Damodar Pandey, 23, of Sivaji Nagar, Panvel, Maharashtra (the third accused). They were arrested and released on conditional bail. Surla (the fourth accused) was said to be absconding.

According to the charge sheet, a police party was deputed on four occasions to capture Surla, but it could not. Surla was wanted in connection with 14 criminal cases registered by the Bombay police, but he was evading arrest. Unhappy with the police probe, Ms. Chandralekha approached the Supreme Court for a CBI probe. In the meantime, Surla was arrested. Ultimately, the Supreme Court on September 9, 1996, ordered further investigation by the CBI into the case. In a petition at the Madras High Court, Ms. Chandralekha doubted the investigation done by CBI and said the aspects of the second confession statement of Surla were not probed. The object of the Supreme Court ordering a CBI probe would be lost if the real culprits were not identified and allowed to escape.

On October 28, 1997, Surla told a judge that they had been in jail for five years and there was no progress in the case. The CBI had not shown any interest in completing the trial and hence he wanted the judge to release them on bail. As the judge refused to entertain his plea, the accused persons, in a fit of anger, picked up chairs and aimed them at the judge. The judge ducked under his podium and withdrew to his chamber. The accused were overpowered by the police and others in the court hall. The CB-CID was entrusted with the probe into the attack in the court.