The Hindu : National : Case against Gurumurthy for "giving false information"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 13, 2005

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National

Case against Gurumurthy for "giving false information"

By V. Venkatasubramaniam

KANCHEEPURAM, FEB. 12. The Vishnu Kanchi police have registered a case against the convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and columnist, S. Gurumurthy, following a direction from the Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate-I, G. Uthamaraj.

Mr. Gurumurthy has been charged under Sections 176 (omission to give notice or information to public servant by person legally bound to give it), 179 (refusing to answer public servant authorised to question) and 191 (giving false evidence — for harbouring offenders) read with Section 193 (punishment for an offence committed under Section 191) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly attempting to hamper investigations in the Sankararaman murder case by giving false information.

Mr. Uthamaraj gave a direction to the Inspector of the Vishnu Kanchi police station yesterday. This was based on a complaint preferred by the Chief Investigation Officer of the Special Investigation Team, S.P. Sakthivelu, before the Magistrate about the "attitude" of Mr. Gurumurthy, who had allegedly given "false reports" about the issues/matters involved in the investigation of the murder case, according to the Superintendent of Police, K. Premkumar.

Mr. Premkumar told The Hindu that Mr. Gurumurthy had "contradicted" his own statements during interrogation by the SIT here on December 9. He had allegedly refused to give a convincing reply when asked to explain on what basis he had written in one of his articles (which appeared in The New Indian Express) that one of the accused in the murder case, Chinna alias Rajini, was "only a petty offender and not the real culprit." Mr. Gurumurthy later sent a legal notice to the SIT stating that his reputation as a columnist and Chartered Accountant had been tarnished by its action of summoning him to appear before it. He also forwarded a cheque for Rs. 1,000 to the SIT for sending him a copy of the video recording of his interrogation at the investigation bungalow.

Consequently, Mr. Sakthivelu lodged a complaint with Mr. Uthamaraj seeking necessary direction from the Court to initiate action against the columnist. The Magistrate directed the Vishnu Kanchi police station Inspector to register a case against Mr. Gurumurthy, Mr. Premkumar said.

In a faxed statement, Mr. Gurumurthy said: "I am hearing reports that the SIT investigating the Sankararaman murder case has filed an FIR against me for purported offences like not cooperating with the police, giving false information, etc. at the time of my interrogation. If these reports are true, I term these efforts as ridiculous. I am surprised that even before I am served with any summons, the police have chosen to spread rumours about the purported case.

"I would like to state that these intimidatory tactics will not deter me from pursuing the proposed criminal case against SIT officials for leaking out misleading contents about my statements made to them at the time they examined me."

His counsel, Mahesh Jethmalani, in a separate communication to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vishnu Kanchi Police station, said: "Media reports disclose that the FIR contains commission of alleged offences, all of which are bailable. This is to inform you that my client will be outside the State of Tamil Nadu till the 26th of February in connection with his professional commitments. On 26th February, he will be available in Tamil Nadu at his normal residence in Chennai. If before that you require any information from my client, you may contact him on his mobile or myself."

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