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Shifting of officials demoralises Madurai police

By S. Vijay Kumar

MADURAI JULY 10. The city police are perplexed at the "unceremonious" shunting of officials who played a key role in the arrest and interrogation of accused in the Kiruttinan murder case.

Five inspectors — C. Shanmuganathan, S. Kumaravel, A. Muthusankaralingam, C. Tholkapian and V. Subburaj — who played a role in the arrest and interrogation of the accused, including M.K. Azhagiri, elder son of the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, were shifted this week. A majority of the officials were given insignificant posts and moved to neighbouring districts.

Besides the transfer and suspension of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Town), T. Hariharan, and the inspector (Anna Nagar), S. Sundaresan, the Home department transferred the Commissioner of Police (in-charge), P. Kandaswamy, and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Thilagar Thidal), A. Bose, days after the prime accused in the murder were arrested.

While different reasons are being attributed to the "sudden" and "premature" transfers, sources in the intelligence wing point to certain lapses during Mr. Azhagiri's arrest and interrogation.

"A few officials allowed the DMK advocate, S. Mohan Kumar, to travel with Mr. Azhagiri between Madurai and the Tiruchi central prison on two occasions, which irked the higher-ups. An additional public prosecutor, who flew down from Chennai to argue the bail petition of the accused here, was said to have been unhappy with collection of evidence," a top police official said.

As of now, almost all officials involved in the special operation are out of the city, which has caused discontent among those preparing charge sheets in the case, police sources added.

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