The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Fake FIRs case: court finds quality of probe "very disturbing"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Fake FIRs case: court finds quality of probe "very disturbing"

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Expressing apprehension over the quality of the state police probe into cases relating to fake FIRs and false insurance claims, the First Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday observed that the tendency was "very, very disturbing."

When a batch of petitions on the fake FIR and bogus insurance claims cases came up for hearing before the Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar, it said the police and the CB-CID had done nothing in the matter. It also told the Additional Advocate-General, A.L. Somayaji, that the court would take one case after another "to see what they have done."

Pointing out that weeks had passed since the court was seized of the matter, the Chief Justice said, "Still the police are not in a position to say anything. It is very difficult to believe and very, very disturbing." He sought to know who had placed orders for FIR forms with private printing presses. "Even now, at this stage, have you found out at whose instance they were printing these forms?" asked Justice Shah. He said it had been demonstrated before the Bench how the fake FIR had been systematically misused by officials.

Mr. Somayaji said forms printed in a private press could not be called fake FIRs. Only when the same crime number is assigned to more than one case could it be called a fake FIR, he explained. A high-level committee had been constituted to go into the issue and suggest remedial measures, Mr. Somayaji said, adding that the so-called fake FIR cases needed to be delinked from the bogus insurance claims cases.

As regards the insurance claims, the Additional Advocate-General submitted that a total of 42 officials had been proceeded against so far. Seeking to allay the apprehensions of the Bench, he denied reports that FIR copies had been burnt in some police stations. The entire Government machinery has been geared up now, Mr. Somayaji added.

The Bench then posted the matter to February 21 for further proceedings.

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