Counter-affidavit filed defending ICC report against police officer

Government Advocate R Shunmugasundaram placed the counter affidavit in a sealed cover before Justice V Parthiban. In the counter affidavit, Ara Arularasu, Assistant Inspector General of the Police (AIGP), wanted the HC to dismiss the petition moved by the suspended IPS officer with costs as it challenged the ICC proceedings.

The AIGP said in the counter that the FIR against Rajesh Das was filed on the recommendation of the woman IPS officer. The suspended officer’s allegations that the complaint is motivated with an objective to destroy the latter’s career is not correct, said the AIGP. “As the special DGP is a supervising officer of the complainant, the department relieved the petitioner from his position and placed him for compulsory wait at the DGP office,” Arularasu said.

He further noted that the police department had constituted an ICC with Seema Agarwal IPS as its head. Since the officer facing charges is senior to the ICC’s presiding officer, the latter forwarded the complaint to the government. “The government had appointed Jayashree Raghunanthan IAS as the presiding officer and others to the ICC on the complaint by the woman officer,” the counter read.

The police said on completion of the investigation, a report was submitted before the Judicial Magistrate Court, Villupuram. It also furnished the CCTV footage from the corridor of the officer of the ADGP captured between February 21 and March 3 this year before the ICC presiding officer. On Rajesh Das’s charge that the list of witnesses and copy of the ICC report were not served to him but the charge memo was issued, the police department said it had not received the ICC report dated April 8, 2021, and had not issued the charge memo.

“The DGP only served the charge memo issued by the government. As such, the question of serving the report and the list of witnesses does not arise. Also, the petitioner was served with the list of documents and the petitioner had acknowledged the same. Therefore, the said averments of the petitioner are denied as false,” the police department concluded. On recording the submissions, the judge adjourned the matter for December 17.