Thursday, December 02, 2004

'Dubious' person investigating Kanchi Acharya case

The President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mr Ashok Singhal, has claimed that when a writ petition was filed in Madras High Court, challenging the appointment of Mr Premkumar (the police officer investigating the Kanchi Acharya case) as DSP, Mr Justice N Srinivasan of the Madras High Court had said that his appointment was only temporary in nature and would become permanent based on the outcome of the cases.
Similarly, Mr Justice Karpaga Vinayagam, while passing orders pertaining to another case, had observed that ‘‘it was shameful to find a person like the petitioner (Mr Premkumar) is allowed to work in police.’’ The judge later slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the officer and was asked to pay the amount to the Gandhi Mission in Madurai.
In respect of a complaint that Mr Premkumar had disrobed a woman and attempted to remove her ‘‘mangalsutra,’’ the Sessions Judge in Tirunelveli, who inquired into the complaint, found prima facie, he claimed.
Two years ago, Mr Justice Karpaga Vinayagam directed the state Crime Branch CID police to register a case against Mr Premkumar, but no action seemed to have been taken. When the aggrieved person petitioned, the Director General of Police I K Govind had said that action had already been taken against him, Mr Singhal alleged.
‘‘A person with this kind of background and track record is heading the investigation team,’’ Mr Singhal lamented. Dismissing as ’false’ and ’baseless,’ reports that the seer had admitted to his guilt during custodial interrogation, Mr Singhal said ‘‘it is a Himalayan untruth..the seer is innocent and it is nonsense to say that he admitted to his guilt.’’ United News of India