The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Former DGP, eight others chargesheeted

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Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Former DGP, eight others chargesheeted

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 14. The Chief Judicial Magistrate court here has framed charges against nine persons, including a former Director General of Police (DGP) and other police officials, in a case of kidnapping and forgery registered at the Fort police station in 1996 on the basis of a complaint filed by one Sabu George of Meenachal taluk in Kottayam district.

The first accused in the case is V. Joseph Thomas who retired as Director General (Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau) in November 2001. The others are Dominique Chavara (Detective Inspector-Crime Branch at the time of giving the charge in 1998), John Varghese (then Sub-Inspector of Koothattukulam police station), Muralidharan (then P.C. K 3859 of Ramapuram police station), Sukumaran Nair of Peroorkada, Rajendran (then Sub-Inspector of City Police Control Room), Abdul Basheer (then head constable, Thiruvananthapuram City Traffic police), C. Rajagopal (then Dy.SP. Rural Narcotic Cell) and Retnakaran Nair of Vattiyoorkavu.

All the accused have been charged with forgery, use of a forged document as a genuine one, kidnapping, illegal detention, intimidation, causing hurt, abetment and conspiracy under sections 465, 471, 365, 342, 506, 323, 109 and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code. The charges were read out to the accused in the court today. The accused have pleaded not guilty. The court will hear the case again on October 20. The High Court has set a time frame for the disposal of the case.

The chargesheet in the case was submitted on August 18, 1998 by Jacob Punnoose who was then Inspector General of Police (North Zone-Kozhikode).

Falsely implicated

The prosecution case is that the complainant, Sabu George, was falsely implicated in a theft case by the accused as part of a conspiracy hatched against him by the former DGP in January 1993. The first accused and the complainant hail from the same locality in Meenachal and are members of the same parish.

Mr. Sabu George alleged that out of previous enmity the accused had fabricated a false case of theft against him at the Fort police station in January, 1993. He was arrested from Meenachal and produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody. The prosecution charge is that Sabu George was manhandled in custody and fake documents were made to show that the gold chain and watch he `stole' from the ninth accused, Retnakaran Nair, were `recovered' from a shop in Chalai.

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