Madras HC summons four DCs, three ACs, and six Inspectors for delay in investigation

Madras High Court summons police officers for delayed investigation in cheating case, questioning inaction despite court orders.

The Madras High Court has summoned four Deputy Commissioners of Police, three Assistant Commissioners, and six Inspectors who had served in the Koyambedu Range in Chennai since 2021 for explaining why the investigation in a cheating case registered in 2020 had not been completed so far.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira suo motu impleaded the officers as respondents to a contempt of court petition filed by the complainant and directed them to be present in the court on November 5 to explain the reasons for not completing the probe within two months as directed by the court on February 16, 2022.

The judge pointed out that J. Manohar Dass, of Katpadi in Vellore district, had initially lodged a complaint with the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner on February 1, 2020, accusing a Chennai-based travel agent, Jayasingh Vasanth Ranjith, of having cheated him of ₹13.66 lakh. According to the complainant, the money was paid for a holy tour to a foreign country, but the travel agent could not arrange visa and did not return the money either. The complaint was forwarded to the Koyambedu police and a First Information Report was registered on August 28, 2020.

Nothing much happened thereafter, forcing the complainant to approach the High Court in 2022 and obtain a direction to complete the investigation and file the final report within two months. Still, there was inaction for over two years, and hence the complainant had chosen to file the contempt plea against an Inspector.

When Justice Chandira wanted to know why there was such gross inaction on the part of the police officers despite specific court orders, a Government Advocate replied that it was because of frequent transfers of the Inspectors deputed to the Koyambedu station. Immediately, the judge called for details of the officers posted as DCs, ACs, and Inspectors in the Koyambedu Range and he was informed that Indian Police Service (IPS) officers R. Shiva Prasad, P. Kumar, G. Umaiyal, and G. Subbulakshmi had served as the Deputy Commissioners since February 1, 2022. S. Ramesh Babu, M.G. Arun, and R. Saravanan had served as the Assistant Commissioners from March 5, 2021. R. Gopalaguru, S. Rajeesh Babu, Chandrasekar, Kameswari, S. Komathi, and K. Uma Maheswari had served as the Inspectors since January 8, 2021, the judge was told. After impleading all of them as respondents, the judge said it would not be fair on the part of the officials to take shelter under the garb of transfers for protracting the probe in criminal cases and expecting the complainants to knock at the doors of the courts at every stage.