‘Copy-Paste’ FIR gets case dismissed

CHENNAI: :‘Shoddy police work letting suspect go scot-free’ or ‘innocent person being prosecuted’ may not even raise an eyebrow or two anymore. Chennai police’s abysmal history in securing convictions is no secret.

However, they seem to have found a new way to lower standards. Recently, city cops field a ‘copy-paste’ FIR before a city court, which led to the acquittal of the suspect. While other arguments put forth by the suspect’s counsel including harassment by an Inspector was not entertained by the judge for lack of documentary evidence, it was an error in their submitted documents which raised doubts.

V Dhakshinamoorthy (44) of TP Chatram, a history sheeter was arrested by the Anna Nagar Police on February 5, 2021, for the alleged possession of 6 kg of ganja in his car. He was subsequently detained under the Goondas Act and jailed for over 7 months until he was released on bail by the Madras High Court.

When the case came up for trial before the Special Court under EC&NDPS (Essential commodities and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act, Dhakshinamoorthy’s lawyers argued that a false case was foisted against their client to detain him under the Goondas Act. The counsel claimed his client had given evidence against an Inspector before the Joint commissioner of Police, because of which the cop had wanted to take revenge on him and forced his colleagues to foist false cases.

“All the narration of facts, evidence and defence taken up by the suspect are all ignored and rejected because those facts have to be proved and substantiated by way of documents. It’s true that the Magistrate had also written in the remand report about the version of suspect. It’s also ignored, since the suspect is a habitual offender, and to get over the offence, he’d have stated it,” observed Principal Special Judge, C Thirumagal.

According to a police officer, Dhakshinamoorthy is a history sheeter who has over 10 cases against him. There are reports of him taking an oath to end life of crime and become an entrepreneur in 2010, but the lure of crime and its rich dividends was too strong for him to resist. He eventually joined back his gang.

While the court rightfully rejected the suspect’s version citing many reasons, including his history sheet, it’s also noteworthy that the Inspector against whom the charges were levelled is a habitual offender too. Six months ago, he was suspended for the death of a suspect while in police custody. His career roster in the last 5 years includes an encounter, kangaroo courts and many excesses.

Advocate M Rajavelu, who appeared for the suspect, told DT Next that city cops regularly foist false ganja cases against persons whom they have categorised as A+ rowdies. “Since, courts reject bail in ganja cases, especially for those arrested for possession of commercial quantities, police have been using this method. One wonders from where they get so much contraband from to submit before the court,” Rajavelu said.

While the contentions of the police manipulating the system did not appeal to the court, cops not adhering to the system went against their favour.

The prosecution’s failure to produce evidence for the ownership of the car from which the ganja was allegedly seized raised doubts as the defence counsel argued that a car which was in police station was used for this case to foist a false case upon his client.

The final nail in the coffin for the prosecution, however, was something they would’ve least expected. “It’s true that police have adopted ‘copy and paste method in preparing FIR,” the court noted. In the FIR, the word edhirigal (suspects) was mentioned repeatedly while in this case, only 1 suspect was allegedly involved.

“Furthermore, when the suspect was caught, he was searched. No other document such as Aadhaar Card, cell phone, money, RC book of the car, etc was produced, except the ganja, which was said to have been seized from the car. This creates doubts and suspicion upon the prosecution’s case,” the court noted and acquitted Dhakshinamoorthy.

According to Advocate Rajavelu, incidents of copy-paste FIRs have increased especially after the use of computers as the concerned officials just copy templates from previous cases and use them when foisting cases.

On December 21 last year, Otteri police had arrested a R Dhinakaran (24) alias Mannar for alleged possession of 3.2 kg of ganja. In an interview to a YouTube channel, Roots, Dhinakaran’s wife claimed that police had foisted a false case against her husband, as he was the friend of a man who married the daughter of a state minister against the family’s wishes.

She claimed that she and her family have been harassed by the police ever since the Minister’s daughter chose to marry against his wishes.

Aiyo saaar, rats ate all the ganja…!

A month ago, the Mathura police in Uttar Pradesh told a local court that over 580 kg of ganja seized by their personnel were eaten by rats, a statement that garnered national attention.

It’s no badge of honour, but Namma Chennai police had set the trend before the UP police when they submitted a similar response that was junked in court last year.

On August 26, 2018, police arrested 3 women — Kalpana, Nagamani and Kumari — from inside the CMBT (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus) for alleged possession of 30 kg ganja. While the counsel for the women argued the contradictions in documentary evidence, what caught the court’s attention was the glaring discrepancy in the amount of the seized ganja produced before the court.

In August 2022, while giving the final verdict, the court noted that the seized contraband produced before the court as evidence weighed only 11 kg, but it was mentioned as 30 kg in all documents.

“The seized ganja was in the police station. Since the station was in a dilapidated condition, it might have been eaten by rats which resulted in the reduction of ganja,” CMBT police informed the court.

To this, Special Judge Juliet Pushpa noted that the contradictory evidence about the seizure and safe custody of the contraband creates suspicion about the genuineness of the prosecution’s case and held that the women were not guilty.

Advocate Chembulingam, who appeared for the women said that there were many instances where, in case of seizures of bulk ganja, some cops take the contraband and hand them over to repeat offenders they’re pally with. “There were instances where they replaced dry cow dung and burlap sacks in place of the seized goods, and submitted them as evidence in court,” he added.

Just like trainers in a gym, city police not only facilitate weight loss for ganja (with the help of rats), but they also help in weight gain too. Unfortunately, these skills do not sit well with the courts.

In another case, the amount of ganja produced in court was 1 kg more than the one recorded during the seizure, which resulted in an acquittal.

When the court wondered about the compounding of seized marijuana, the investigating officer was smart enough to not float any theory. However, the error proved to the advantage of ganja peddler, ‘Powder’ Ravi, who was acquitted by the court as the increase in seizure goes against the basis of the case against him.

Ravi was arrested by the New Washermanpet police on September 9, 2017, for the alleged possession of 4.4 kg of ganja. When the seized ganja was produced before the court, it weighed 5.3 kg.

There were no explanations from the prosecution regarding the variation in weight, which goes to the very root of the case. This made prosecution’s case suspicious, special judge J Juliet Pushpa noted, and held that ‘Powder’ Ravi is not guilty.