Submit preliminary enquiry report in case against Velumani: HC

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha, before whom the plea moved by both the DMK and Arapor Iyakkam seeking registration of criminal against the Minister, posted the case for further hearing to January 23 after seeking for the reports pertaining to the case.

Senior Counsel NR Elango, who argued on behalf of the DMK, impressed upon the court that DMK has already provided enough evidence to register a case against the Minister. The way forward is to get the Governor’s nod to proceed with the case and there was no need for the DVAC to examine witnesses in a preliminary enquiry, he said.

DVAC’s stand that they have examined several witnesses in this connection is against the DVAC manual and the police are merely bidding time from acting against the Minister by resorting to such unwarranted procedures, he said and sought for the creation of a special investigation team to proceed with the case further by registering a criminal case against the Minister.

Advocate Suresh appearing on behalf of Arappor Iyakkam submitted that the police cannot enquire a case against a senior Minister and even if it does it was bound to be a mere eyewash. He said as per the anti-corruption laws the preliminary enquiry ought to have been completed within three months. But in the present case, a year has lapsed since the complaint was given and still it is in the preliminary enquiry stage. Based on this, he sought the bench to direct the DVAC to submit the preliminary enquiry report.

DVAC’s Superintendent of Police P Ponni, who conducted the preliminary enquiry told the court that the PE report has been sent to the Director, DVAC.