HC directs Home Secretary, DGP to ensure probe agencies are amply equipped in southern districts to conduct effective investigation

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to ensure that investigating agency wings in the southern districts are sufficiently equipped to conduct effective investigation on a par with those in Chennai.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to ensure that investigating agency wings in the southern districts are sufficiently equipped to conduct effective investigation on a par with those in Chennai.

Justice B. Pugalendhi observed that much importance was given to Chennai and the other districts, particularly, the southern districts, received a step-motherly treatment in terms of infrastructure and projects. Right to have a fair investigation was a fundamental right conferred under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Without adequate facilities, one could not expect quality investigation. The Cyber Wing and the Forensic Lab in Chennai were provided with ‘N’ number of tools. Not even 1% of the facilities available there were provided to other districts, the court observed.

Taking cognisance of reports submitted to the court, the judge said only three tools had been provided to the District Units in the Southern Region, but they were yet to be activated. On the other hand, Cyber Forensic Lab, Central Crime Branch – Cyber Crime Cell, Greater Chennai Police, was provided with 20 tools; Cyber Crime Lab, Central Crime Branch, Chennai, was provided with two tools; Crime Branch CID, Chennai, was provided with 22 tools; and State Cyber Crime Command Centre, Cyber Crime Wing, Chennai, was provided with 16 tools.

Around 25,775 cases of financial frauds had been reported in the southern districts between April 21, 2021 and June 30, 2024, out of which, the District Units had registered 1,449 FIRs. As many as 1,311 of these cases were still under investigation and 47 cases were before trial courts. Conviction had been delivered in only one case. The court did not find fault with the District Cyber Crime Units as they had not been provided with adequate facilities, as those in Chennai.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Priya Biswa Kumar, a Chennai-based paediatrician, who had approached the police in 2023 stating that she had been cheated of ₹4.5 crore. The case registered in March, 2023, was still pending without much progress, she said.

The petitioner sought transfer of the investigation from the District Crime Branch, Madurai, to the City Crime Branch, Chennai. It was said that the accused in the case had invested the money in Forex trading. It was submitted that the investigating agency wing in Madurai was not well-equipped to carry out an effective investigation into such crimes.