‘The status report about the action taken so far and the proposed action to be taken in future does not inspire confidence about the investigation done by the CB-CID so far’, the Madras High Court observed.
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Expressing serious concern over the “snail’s pace” at which Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) has been conducting investigation in an 18-year-old boy kidnap case, in which MLA ‘Poovai’ M. Jagan Moorthy and ADGP H.M. Jayaram (now under suspension) were the suspects, the Madras High Court on Friday (July 25, 2025) said, it only leads to an apprehension as to whether “this great nation is drifting towards Police Raj.”
Justice G. Jayachandran said, though the Director General of Police/Head of Police Force (DGP/HoPF) Shankar Jiwal had transferred the investigation from Thiruvalangadu police in Tiruvallur district to the CB-CID on June 23, 2025 itself, he could not see any substantial progress having been made by the subsequent investigating agency from a bare perusal of the Case Diary (CD) maintained by it.
“The status report about the action taken so far and the proposed action to be taken in future does not inspire confidence about the investigation done by the CB-CID so far. The delay in the investigation has already provided adequate space for intimidating and tampering witnesses which is implicitly seen from the averments made in the present bail petition filed by the three arrested accused,” the judge said.
He went on to state: “No doubt, they (the MLA and suspended ADGP) have the wherewithal to approach the highest court (Supreme Court) of this country and get protective order. However, such protection is only from detaining them and not an immunity from interrogation.” He pointed out the CB-CID had so far not even summoned the two indivdiuals for inquiry though there was no bar on questioning them.
“The pace in which the investigation is being conducted by the CB-CID, as stated by the investigating officer himself, is a clear proof that the investigating officer is scared to reach the powerful persons. The investigation is moving in snail pace expecting something else to happen,” the judge observed while denying bail to the petitioners V. Vanaraja, P. Manikandan and M. Ganesan.
The judge also said, the call detail records between the MLA and the ADGP (now suspended) as well as the CCTV footage from Motel Highway at Thirumazhisai creates a strong suspicion about the involvement of the powerful politician as well as the top police officer, belonging to the Indian Police Service, in the crime and yet, the CB-CID was unable to explain the delay in summoning them for an inquiry.
“This court is constrained to place on record that this incident and subsequent follow up events have caused serious concern about the life and liberty of the common men and a reasonable apprehension has been raised in their mind as to whether this great nation is drifting towards Police Raj,” the judge wrote.
According to the prosecution, the first petitioner Vanaraja’s daughter had married a youngster from Tiruvallur district against his wishes and hence he had begun a manhunt with the assistance of the MLA and the ADGP. Pursuant to the conspiracy, a gang had trespassed into the youngster’s house on the intervening night between June 6 and June 7 and kidnapped his younger brother who was sleeping in the terrace.
Subsequently, when the police intensified vehicle search in the area on receipt of a complaint from their mother, the kidnapped boy was shifted to the ADGP’s official car, in order to evade police checking, and was dropped at a nearby bus stand. The police constable, who had driven the ADGP’s car that night, was still absconding and had not been interrogated by the CB-CID so far, Justice Jayachandran said.
Though the bail petitioners claimed that they had now entered into a compromise with the complainant, the judge wrote: “This is not a case to be conveniently closed as a private dispute between two families… It is a case of criminal trespass during night hours and kidnapping of a minor boy by force under fear of death. It is a classic case of abuse of government machinery to commit a crime for extraneous considerations.”
The judge pointed out that the police had recovered over ₹7 lakh in cash from Vanaraja and suspected that the money was meant to be paid to the other accused.
Further, stating that the investigating officer was struggling to make headway in the case possibly because of being much lower in rank to the suspended ADGP, the judge said, “this court still believes that the course of investigation, as proposed by the investigating officer in his affidavit, will be carried expeditiously thereby restoring public faith on police and judiciary.”
Published – July 25, 2025 09:03 pm IST
