The Madras High Court on Monday wanted to know what possible objection could the State government have for ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the gutkha scam, in which the names of several top police officials including that of the incumbent Director General of Police T.K. Rajendran had figured.
Chief Justice Indira Banerjee raised the question while leading the first Division Bench, along with Justice Abdul Quddhose. The judges were seized of a public interest litigation petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA J. Anbazhagan seeking the constitution of a special investigation team, comprising officers from the CBI, for probing the gutkha scam.
Referring to her experience elsewhere, the Chief Justice said it was unfortunate that the image of the uniformed services, in general, had taken a beating in recent times. She said the government should willingly agree for a probe by an impartial and independent body in such cases if the officers had nothing to fear.
Stating that she had no prejudice against police officials as such and also after pointing out that her own father was an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Ms. Justice Banerjee said it was “very, very unfortunate” that, of late, police officials were facing serious charges at least due to carelessness if not due to connivance.
A-G’s contention
Advocate-General Vijay Narayan contended that the issue before the court was squarely covered by a judgment of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and G.R. Swaminathan, who, on July 28, 2017, had disposed of a similar PIL petition filed by another individual before the Madurai Bench of the High Court.
That Bench had rejected the plea for a CBI probe and instead directed the State government to appoint “an upright officer with unimpeachable integrity” as the State Vigilance Commissioner, a post then held by the Home Secretary, to monitor the inquiry into the scam by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption sleuths. However, senior counsel P. Wilson, representing Mr. Anbazhagan, contended that the case filed in the Madurai Bench was primarily concerned with extension of service by two years granted to the DGP on June 30, the day of his superannuation, and the plea for a CBI probe was only a supplementary prayer in that case.
Explaining the history of the scam, counsel pointed out that the Supreme Court had ordered a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutkha in 2010 and it was followed by a government order of the State government in 2015. In July 2016, an Income Tax raid on the premises of some gutkha manufacturers unearthed continuous sale of the banned product in the State.
The I-T officials had seized documents that showed alleged payoffs to the tune of ₹39.91 crore to a Minister, two top police officers and others for permitting the sale of the banned substance. On December 22, 2016, S. George, the then Commissioner of Police, Chennai City, wrote to the Home Secretary seeking a probe into the issue by an independent agency.
In the meantime, it also came to light that certain Central Excise and Customs officials too were involved in the crime and that they had not recovered excise duty to the tune of ₹55 crore from gutkha manufacturers. Since Central government officials were also involved, the investigation should be necessarily done by the CBI, Mr. Wilson contended. The case was adjourned to Friday for further hearing.
