The Madras High Court bench in Madurai on Monday directed the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to trace the whereabouts of a 21-year-old-girl, missing since November 25 last year, within six weeks and submit a report to the court.
A division bench comprising Justices V. Dhanapalan and M. Duraiswamy issued the directions while hearing the case of V. Santhanam of Maniyapuram in Pattukottai, who had claimed in his petition that his relative K. Ashok had kidnapped his daughter S. Vivetha with an intention of marrying her. The petitioner also alleged that Ashok had removed 110 sovereigns of gold jewels from his home while abducting his daughter.
In his petition, Mr. Santhanam claimed that the High Court bench had transferred the investigation to the CB-CID based on his submission that the local police had helped Ashok kidnap his daughter. However, there was no progress in the investigation conducted by the CB-CID, the petitioner alleged.
On the directions of the court the additional director general of the CB-CID, Karan Sinha, appeared before the division bench on Monday. Through the additional advocate general, he submitted a status report filed by the deputy superintendent of police, CB-CID, Manapuram, P. Malaichamy. In his report, Mr. Malaichamy pleaded that the court grant a month’s time to trace Ms. Vivetha. According to him, departmental action was initiated against the local police, who had helped Ashok in the alleged kidnapping.
The CB-CID officers have searched for the missing girl in at least 337 locations, and questioned 90 persons, including the relatives and friends of Ashok, Mr. Malaichamy submitted.
