Harassment case against IG Murugan: HC orders to expedite probe

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Crime Branch and Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) and Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to expedite the investigation into a sexual harassment complaint raised by a woman SP in 2018 against Inspector General of Police S Murugan.

A division bench of Justice Paresh Upadhyay and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the direction on disposing of a writ appeal preferred by Murugan. The petitioner officer sought direction to quash the 2019 order of the Madras High Court directing the CB-CID to probe the sexual harassment case.

When the matter was taken up for hearing, Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram informed that the CB-CID is probing the case in the right direction. He further stated the ICC which was constituted soon after the complaint was dissolved and a fresh committee was formulated now to inquire about the charge.

Murugan’s advocate informed the HC that they had objections against the committee which was constituted earlier and they have no issues with the current ICC which has been inquiring about the charges.

Recording either side’s submissions, the judges directed both CB-CID and ICC to expedite and complete the investigation at the earliest.

The charge against the IPS officer was when he served as the joint director to DVAC, he sexually harassed a woman SP. Therefore, the woman officer filed a complaint in August 2018 alleging that her senior authority misbehaved with her. When an ICC was constituted to probe the case, the victim approached the HC to reconstitute the ICC since some are acting in favor of the accused. The HC transferred the case to Telangana and the same order was set aside by the Supreme Court.