The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday informed a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that it was willing to take over the investigation into the case relating to bringing of children from other States for orphanages in the State.
The CBI counsel made the submission when two public interest writ petitions relating to the issue came up before the Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Vinod Chandran.
The court had last week asked the CBI to tell it whether the CBI could take over the investigation.
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The court also appointed High Court lawyer Devan Ramachandran as amicus curiae to assist the court in the case. The court said the amicus curiae was appointed in view of the serious issues involved in the matter in which 588 children were brought from other States.
Advocate General K.P. Dandapani submitted a report in a sealed cover regarding the details of the investigation so far conducted by the Crime Branch into the case as directed by the court.
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The Bench had earlier observed that the State police would have to face practical difficulties as more than two States were involved in the case.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have the case investigated by CBI. The government had submitted that as many 588 children were brought from Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal to the orphanages in the State in two days.
When the CBI expressed its readiness to take over the probe, the court orally observed that why the State government was worried about the prospect of entrusting the case with the CBI. The Bench said the government should now be happy that the CBI had made the submission.
The Advocate General then submitted that the government had not made any statement regarding the CBI probe.