Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Anticipatory bail for DIG, Ashok Kumar raps CB-CID

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI March 19 . The principal sessions judge, S. Ashok Kumar, today granted anticipatory bail to N. Elangovan, DIG, accused of tampering with the marksheets of sub-inspector aspirants in 1998, but not before rapping the CB-CID for selective prosecution.

The judge asked, ``at what point of time did the alterations in marksheets take place? I am not able to understand how the agency without enquiring the other members of the Uniformed Services Recruitment Board came to this conclusion.''

Every alteration had been countersigned by the Chairman of the board and at the bottom of each page all members signed. But three officers -- Mohammad Ali, DIG, Karuna Sagar and Gunaseelan, both Deputy Commissioners— claimed that the alterations were made at a later stage, after viva voce, the judge noted.

Referring to the phrase, `others', in the accused column, Mr. Ashok Kumar said, ``it was an indirect threat to other members of the board that they would be implicated later if they failed to tow the prosecution line''.

The judge also expressed his strong reservations about the prosecution's refusal to hand over the preliminary inquiry report despite its claiming that the action against the three officials was taken only after a preliminary investigation.

``I am also unable to understand why the prosecution is not willing to produce the report which is a must...refusal to produce it for the perusal of the court only makes this court presume that if produced the report would be adverse to the prosecution or to presume that there was no such report at all''.

The petitioner was an IPS officer but none of the documents was in his custody. ``He is still in service and has not even been suspended'', Mr. Ashok Kumar said, adding that enlarging him on anticipatory bail would not hamper the investigation.

The Judge directed Mr. Elangovan to execute a bond for Rs. 5,000 with two sureties for an identical sum to the satisfaction of the court. He was asked to appear before the court at 10.30 a.m. every Monday. He should make himself available for interrogation as and when required, and surrender before the court on April 4.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Spell out stand on devolution: panchayats
• Byelections likely in May
• SIT zeroing in on Imam Ali
• 35-year old highway trees transplanted
• Dwindling demand for new phones
• Anticipatory bail for DIG, Ashok Kumar raps CB-CID
• Salary bills will be cleared on time: Ponnaiyan
• `SEC can't force people to contest'
• DVAC assessing gold value
• Farmers call delta bandh
• WHO official meets CM
• Veerappan associate surrenders
• Hall tickets for private students
• Training in IT for women

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu