The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition by a Tamil Nadu Inspector-General of Police in connection with a case for alleged offences, including extortion, registered by the CBI.
The matter related to Paazee Group of Companies. Nearly 52,000 persons who deposited money in the company were cheated to the tune of Rs. 1,210 crore. Pramod Kumar, the then Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, Coimbatore, was cited as an accused in a case, which relates to alleged abuse of his official position and extortion of Rs.2.85 crore from the Directors of the company during 2009-10. In the petition, Mr.Pramod Kumar sought to restrain the CBI from proceeding further with the enquiry or investigation into the offences allegedly committed by him.
The petitioner’s grievance was that an enquiry or investigation could be conducted by the CBI into any offence alleged to have been committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act only with the prior previous approval of the Centre where such an allegation related to an employee of Centre of the level of Joint-Secretary and above. He was an Inspector-General which was of the level of Joint Secretary to Government. Therefore, the CBI probing the case without getting the Centre’s prior approval was against the law. The Special Public Prosecutor for CBI in the High Court, N.Chandrasekaran, said the High Court had ordered transfer of investigation to the CBI by an order on April 19, 2011, pursuant to which investigation was taken over. The investigation having been ordered by the High Court should reach the logical conclusion and the petitioner could not stall it, particularly when there was prima facie material to prove extortion of money to the tune of Rs.2.85 crore from company directors. Justice N.Paul Vasanthakumar said the High Court’s order transferring investigation of the case had not been challenged by anyone, including the petitioner. So, the CBI was entitled to investigate anyone. The court in exercise of its inherent powers had passed an order transferring investigation from the State police to CBI, particularly taking note of the collusion of police in the criminal cases registered. Hence, Mr.Pramod Kumar was not entitled to raise the objection that only after getting permission from the Centre, the case against him could be investigated.
