Justice delayed, but not denied

April 26, 1993. That Monday was like any other hot summer day in T Nagar. None of the residents of North Usman road could have had any inkling of the horror that was to strike their neighbourhood. In just a few hours, a gang armed with long knives would attack a long-time trader and his colleagues in a bold daylight hacking incident, which left two brothers - Murugesan and Anandan – bleeding to death there on the street. They were unfortunate victims of a fight that broke out between a landlord and his tenant, and their murder nearly went unpunished for over two decades.

The story unfolded 25 years ago over a seemingly innocuous tenancy dispute. The landlord, Saleem, was a dance master, a popular figure in Kollywood who had the unique distinction of making three iconicfilm stars dance to his moves: the late MG Ramachandran, J Jayalalithaa and NT Rama Rao, who went on to become chief ministers.

Saleem owned a prime property, No. 1 Chari Street, which had a big, fancy dancing hall. He resided on the first floor of the building. As it was a corner property, with the front portion of the building facing North Usman Road, a busy commercial area, he rented that portion to a trader named Asokan and his brother Senthur Raja. Raja was initially running a hardware shop named Aras Hardwares, which he later handed over to Asokan’s brother-in-law Prabakar.

Asokan also ran a real estate firm out of the premises and they had been running their business for more than six years.

The relationship between landlord and the tenant was smooth in the initial years, but it strained when Saleem sought a higher rent. Saleem asked them to vacate so that he could get new tenants. But Asokan did not want to leave his well-established business premises on one of the main roads of T Nagar. Thus began a bitter legal battle in 1990.

The lack of progress in the case made Saleem impatient, and he wanted to get his tenants vacated at any cost. That is where a person named Narayanasamy came in. He told Saleem that he knew a gang from a fishing hamlet near Marina who would intimidate his tenants into vacating. He quoted a huge sum of money, but assured that men were ‘professionals’ who were quite adept at ‘resolving’ disputes. As Saleem was desperate, he agreed to the plan.

Initially, the gang tried threatening Asokan. When that did not work, they intensified the efforts by demolishing a portion of the compound wall of his office.After Asokan filed a complaint at the Soundra Pandiyanar Police Station, the police conducted an inquiry and advised both parties to reach a compromise.

Asokan was not happy with the way his complaint was handled by the PondyBazaar police and felt that they were supporting Saleem. A meeting was held between Saleem and Asokan but a compromise remainedelusive. Instead, Saleem threatened Asokan with serious consequences if he did not vacate the property.

On Sunday April 25 - a day before the double murder – a 14-member gang of criminals, led by a body-builder named Murali,broke open the real estate office and ransacked it. They threw out all furniture and computers on the pavement and forcibly took possession of the premises.

Even after successfully completing their mission, the gang members lingered on, as Saleem was wary of Asokan’s reaction and wanted the gang to be there for his protection. The gang members had dinner and drank quite a bit and slept on the first floor of Saleem’s house.

The next day, Monday, April 26, Asokan, who was attending a function in Vadapalani, heard about the incident through his brother-in-law Prabakar. He along with his relatives Murugesan and Anandan rushed to the office and saw all the belongings lying strewn around.

A furious Asokan started to put his things back in the office. Seeing that, Saleem alerted his henchmen who were sleeping in his house. The gang came running armed with long knives, and attacked them. Asokan managed to ward off the attack with a wooden chair, but Murugesan and Anandan sustained deep cuts and were bleeding profusely. Traffic came to a halt and the traders in the area put up shutters out of fear. The gang escaped from the spot, but their attack was witnessed by many.

The two injured men were taken to the Royapettah government hospital but they were dead by then. Asokan was disheartened by the lax attitude of the Pondy Bazaar police. So, senior officers entrusted the case to me. I was working as an Inspector of Police at Kodambakkam at that point in time.

I immediately took up the case, and painstakingly collected enough evidence to arrest all the 16 accused, including Saleem. After completing the investigation, I filed my final report on July 24, 1993.

Deflections and delays: Typically, a criminal investigation comprises three major parts— registration of the FIR and investigation; filing charge-sheet after completion of the investigation; and conducting the trial and disposal of the case by the court. The first two parts went smoothly, but the trial was stalled as various petitions were filed at the High Court and even Supreme Court.

Over the years, more than 10 inspectors took charge of Pondy Bazaar police station and left. The case file became damaged and torn, with almost all the stakeholders lost interest. In the meanwhile, I, too, had been promoted to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police in Chennai city police before retiring from service in May 2004.

One day, in 2010, around six years after retirement, I received summons to give evidence for the case. Before giving evidence, it is the duty of the Investigating Officer to peruse the deposition of all the witnesses examined earlier by the court. Based on what he can sum up, he gives evidence.

However, on examining the evidence, I was shocked to see that many key witnesses had not been examined. Similarly, some vital documents had not been marked. Realising that this case was being sabotaged, I refused to appear in court to give evidence until the key witnesses were examined and the relevant documents marked. However, my stand did not go down well, and a warrant was obtained to compel me to appear in court and give evidence so that the prosecution could be closed.

Being so closely associated with the case as the main investigator, I could not bear to see the way it was being handled. Hence, I wrote a letter to the then Commissioner of Police, T Rajendran, describing the case in detail, and offered to take up the case again. In my entire career, no murder case investigated by me ended in an acquittal and I was determined to see justice done in this case as well.

Understanding the gravity of the situation, the Commissioner immediately issued a written order to depute the team as requested by me. That’s when I swung into action and started to trace all the key witnesses, brought them in the witness box and got them examined. I also finally deposed before the court and tied up all loose ends in the case. I was grilled by three eminent criminal lawyers for three days, but I managed to withstand the rigorous cross-examination.

Finally, on November 29, 2011, 18 long years after the murders happened, the III Additional Sessions Judge Pandurangan pronounced the judgement convicting and sentencing all the 11 accused to life imprisonment. The main accused Saleem was not present in court to hear his sentence. He was very ill, and passed away just a month before the pronouncement of the verdict. Three more accused died during the course of the trial.

For me, this was something of a personal victory, as it was almost a lost case.But even after being retired for seven years, I resurrected it and ensured justice was served. Most importantly, I managed to retain my record that no murder case investigated by me ended in acquittal.