Supreme Court tells T.N. police to probe with ‘zeal’ 2011 murder of Chennai lawyer’s son
The Hindu
Top court says it is concerned about uncovering truth behind crime
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Tamil Nadu police to investigate with “zeal” and “alacrity” the 2011 murder of a Chennai-based human rights lawyer’s son.
A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant said the case was one of murder, that too, of the son of a lawyer who had been filing human rights cases against the police. The lawyers’ community in the State was concerned about the status of the case. The court was equally concerned about uncovering the truth behind the crime.
The court assured the lawyer, R. Sankarasubbu, that since it was now seized of the case, the police would take up the investigation as a challenge.
Mr. Sankarasubbu’s 24-year-old son S. Sathish Kumar, a law graduate, died in June 2011. The son’s death had caused a furore, especially among lawyers.
However, the court also seemed to indicate that the police would need reasonable time to complete its probe of the case, which was already over a decade old.
The court noted that a status report currently filed by the CB-CID (Metro) of the State police, which is probing the case, has not said much.
The Bench directed the State police, represented by advocate Joseph S. Aristotle, to file an updated status report. It listed the case again in the second week of May.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.