According to the directives, the CBI took over the re-investigation of the state police's FIR, which listed Batcha and a head constable as defendants.
Digital Desk: Following the Madras High Court's decision on an ex-Tamil Nadu police inspector's petition saying that a former inspector general of police (Idol Wing) falsely implicated him in cases, the CBI has taken up the investigation into the case of the missing idol.
On July 22, the Madras High Court ordered the CBI to investigate charges made by former IPS officer Kader Batcha against AG Pon Manickavel, the Inspector General of Police (Idol Wing) in Tamil Nadu.
According to the directives, the CBI took over the re-investigation of the state police's FIR, which listed Batcha and a head constable as defendants.
In his plea, Batcha said that Manickavel had started bringing bogus charges against policemen like him to "quench his bureaucratic vengeance" in conjunction with Deenadayalan, the primary accused in the idol theft cases.
Justice G. Jayachandran took into account the seriousness of the claims and requested that the CBI look into them because they cannot be disregarded.
"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 standstill because of the alleged opinion given by Manickavel in June 2019," the judge had observed.
Based on an Interpol Red Notice, Kapoor was detained in Germany in 2011 and returned to India the following year. He was recently found guilty of breaking into a home in Udayarpalayam and illegally exporting 19 ancient idols to the Art of the Past Gallery in New York, each worth more than Rs 94 crore.
Justice Jayachandran instructed the director of the CBI to consider the petitioner's assertions from April 20 and June 15, 2019, and to conduct a preliminary investigation by designating an investigating officer with at least the rank of DIG. He sent the CBI the case file for the 2017 inquiry into the crime to conduct a new investigation.
"Manickavel was a lower-ranking police officer than the petitioner. They had been entrusted with particular duties involving the pride and confidence of the country. Additionally, their actions have implications for their ties abroad and their adherence to international treaty obligations without jeopardising national interests " the judge had stated.
The High Court noted that based on the submitted evidence, it is obvious that only one of the two parties—the petitioner or Manickavel—must have provided all the information to their knowledge, and that information must be true.
The judge stated that neither version could be true, and added that a further possibility was that both had purposefully revealed only half of the truths while concealing the other half. This would constitute either a suppression of the fact or a suggestion of falsehood through the fabrication of documents.
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