The Madras High Court on Wednesday permitted A.G. Ponn Manickavel, a retired Inspector General of Police and court-appointed Special Officer entrusted with investigation of idol theft cases in the State, to get impleaded as one of the respondents in a petition seeking registration of a criminal case against him by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department.
I. Kader Batcha, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, filed the petition accusing the Special Officer of harassing him by including his name in some of the idol theft cases.
The petitioner also alleged that the the Special Officer influenced some judicial officers to get him remanded even for bailable offences. When the petition came up for hearing before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, the judge permitted the special officer to get impleaded in the case. When his counsel V. Selvaraj pointed out that the special officer had also filed a contempt of court petition accusing a senior Minister and top government officials of sneaking into investigations conducted by him, the judge said all submissions could be made in writing by August 1.
