Can’t allow cross-examination of witnesses again: HC to spl DGP

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea moved by the suspended Special Director General of Police Rajesh Das seeking a direction to recall four witnesses, including a woman SP, for cross-examination.

Hearing the petition, Justice G Chandrasekharan said that the court would not allow cross-examination again, as the three witnesses, including a woman SP, had already been cross-examined. But the court permitted the officer to cross-examine the prosecution witness number 62 alone, as the cross-examination was not done earlier.

Special DGP Rajesh Das, now under suspension, had moved the High Court seeking a direction to Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate to recall four witnesses, including a woman IPS officer who had accused him of having made sexual advances, so that his lawyers could further cross-examine them to cull out the truth.

He also urged the High Court to stay the trial proceedings before the Villupuram court until the disposal of his plea to recall the witnesses.

During the hearing, Public Prosecutor Arul Selvam submitted that the court should not allow the plea, as sufficient cross-examination has already been conducted. The government advocate alleged that the plea was filed to delay the trial of the case in the Villupuram Chief Judicial Magistrate court.

Das was suspended from service after a woman IPS officer alleged that he had sexually harassed her when she was on bandobust duty when the then Chief Minister visited the region in 2020. It later emerged that the senior officer made several attempts to stop the woman officer from filing a formal complaint, including sending another SP to block her car as she was proceeding to Chennai.