HC Orders CBI Probe On Allegations Against Retired IPS Officer Pon Manickavel

Though only a CB-CID inquiry was sought, Madras HC bench of Justice G Jayachandran considering the gravity of the charges ordered a CBI probe into the allegations.

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the allegations levelled against retired IPS officer A G Pon Manickavel, who was the former Inspector General of Police (Idol Wing) in Tamil Nadu.

Though a criminal petition from Kader Batcha, a retired inspector attached to the Idol Wing, had made the allegations against Manickavel, and prayed for transfer of the case to the CB-CID of the state, Justice G Jayachandran considered the gravity of the charges and ordered a CBI probe into the allegations.

The allegations made by the petitioner cannot be ignored, the judge said.

"Therefore, taking into consideration the international ramification of the offence, exchange of allegations against each other by two police officials, who were privy to the idol theft cases, the alleged attempt to screen the crime of theft and the thieves, this court has no second opinion that this is a case to be investigated by the CBI to unravel the truth and to secure the culprits as well as the recovery of other antique idols, which are still in the alleged possession/control of the prime accused -- Subash Chandra Kapoor -- against whom the investigation had come to a stand still in view of the alleged opinion given by Manickavel in June, 2019," the judge observed.

Justice Jayachandran directed the CBI Director to take cognisance of the representations of the petitioner dated April 20 and June 15, 2019 and make a preliminary inquiry by appointing an Investigating Officer (IO) not below the rank of DIG. He transferred the investigation in the case registered in 2017 from the file of Idol wing to the CBI for a fresh probe.

The petitioner has alleged that accused Manickavel, then the Special Officer and Head of SIT, Idol Wing cases, had in collusion with Deenadayalan, the main accused in the idol theft cases, started to foist false cases on officers like him (petitioner) to "quench his bureaucratic vengeance".

The judge said, "The petitioner and Manickavel were police officers at different rank. They had been entrusted with specific responsibility, which involved the pride and faith of the nation. Their action also involved other ramifications like foreign relationship, honouring the International Treaty obligations without compromising the interest of the nation."

"Men entrusted with responsibility whether on the investigating side or on the judicial side are expected to deal fairly in issues which has serious ramification on the culture, heritage, faith and emotion. From the materials placed, it is certain that only one among the two, the petitioner or Manickavel must have placed all the facts within their knowledge and those facts must be true," he said.

Both versions could not be true, the judge said, adding that another possibility is both have willfully come out only with half truth and suppressing the other half, which would then be a case of suppression of the fact or suggestion of falsehood through fabrication of documents.