The Karnataka High Court on Monday asked the State government whether the investigation by the Bangalore city police into the cases related to March 2 violence at the city civil court complex can go forward to the satisfaction of all without necessitating a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna posed this question orally while expressing concern over progress made in the investigation so far even though the State government informed the court that it [government] had appointed senior IPS officer Pranab Mohanti as Special Officer to supervise all the cases registered in connection with the violence.
The Bench was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by the Advocates' Association, Bangalore, seeking a CBI inquiry into the incident besides seeking action against the police personnel for their “excesses” as established in the in-house inquiry conducted by R.K. Dutta, DGP (CID) on police excesses.
When Advocate-General of the State S. Vijay Shankar said that cases were of the nature required to be investigated by the CBI while emphasising that handing over probe to the CBI would impact the morale of the State police, the Bench observed: “Do not talk about morale. We are concerned with the truth, when it will emerge?”
Mohanti to supervise
Mr. Shankar informed the Bench that Mr. Mohanti has been appointed to supervise the cases as had had experience working with the CBI and he [Mr. Mohanti] would also recommend action to be initiated by the State based on the in-house inquiry report by Mr. Dutta.
The Advocate-General also said that as many as 173 cases had been registered in connection with the March 2 incident and these cases had been distributed to various police stations for quicker investigation while clarifying that no police officers connected with March 2 incident were supervising the probe.
When the Bench asked as to why no action had been taken on police personnel involved in assault based on the video submitted by the advocates in the form of a compact disc, the Advocate-General said that most of the video was taken through mobile phone cameras and the images were not clear enough so as to be able to recognise the individuals.
FSL, Ahmedabad
Mr. Shankar said the CD has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Ahmedabad. The FSL authorities had said they would be able to give their inputs in about 20 days, he said.
Referring to another allegation that the police had removed the vehicles damaged in the incident thus destroying the evidence, Mr. Shankar clarified that they had seized the vehicles under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Bench said it was not questioning the credibility of the police. It said it was concerned with the action initiated by the State and the progress made by the police three weeks after the incident. The hearing was adjourned to March 29.
