Kerala   

Order reserved on plea in custodial death case

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday reserved its order on a petition seeking a directive to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit progress reports on the investigation into the custodial death of Sampath, an accused in a murder case in Palakkad.

The CBI on Monday produced the case diary as directed by Justice V. Ramkumar. The petition filed by Murukeshan, younger brother of Sampath, sought verification of the case diary to find whether any material had been destroyed or deleted to save some senior police officers. The petitioner learnt that the special investigation team found involvement of two senior police officers in the case. In fact, pressure had been mounted by external as well as internal forces in the CBI to prepare the charge sheet in such way that these police officers would be let off the hook.

He pointed out that the investigation came to a standstill because of the influence of certain vested interests.

The CBI took over the investigation following a High Court directive.

The court while ordering a CBI probe had observed that the investigation in this case by the State police had turned out to be a mockery with only perfunctory attempts to weave a seemingly plausible story of torture while in police custody. The judge had said that much strain was not necessary to infer that there was an orchestrated attempt to shield certain officers in the higher echelons of the police and make certain officers of lower rank scapegoats.

Panel submits report

The former district judge N. Sukumaran appointed by the High Court to inquire into the irregularities in the appointment of assistant grade in Kerala University on Monday submitted its report to the court in a sealed cover.

The High Court had appointed the retired judge while setting aside an order of the Upa Lok Ayukta, recommending the State government to cancel the appointments made to the post of assistants.

The court revoked the order on the ground that the Lok Ayukta had not followed the procedure while making the recommendations.

Appeal admitted

A Bench comprising Justice Pius C. Kuriakose and Justice N.K.Balachandran issued notice to Anas, an accused in a case relating to the attack on college teacher T.J. Joseph, on a petition filed by the government seeking to cancel the bail granted by the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court to him. Anas is a member of the Vazhakulam block panchayat in Ernakulam district.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Order reserved on plea in custodial death case

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu