The Madras High Court on Tuesday stayed the investigation being conducted by the Tiruchi cyber crime police against former Director General of Police (DGP) R. Natraj, 72, for reportedly sharing derogatory content on social media.
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Justice G. Jayachandran granted the interim stay after being prima facie satisfied that a malicious complaint had been lodged with an ulterior motive by advocate A. Sheela of Tiruchi. The judge also directed the police to act against those who had abused the retired DGP on social media.
Wondering why the police had not acted against those who had used filthy language against Mr. Natraj despite such a fact having come to light as part of the investigation into the lawyer’s complaint, the judge directed the police to report about the action taken against them by January 19, 2024.
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In his petition urging the court to quash the First Information Report (FIR) registered against him, the retired DGP said he was a part of a WhatsApp group titled PDP (Public Defence Prosecution), which comprised of about 70 members. His friends and well wishers were also a part of the group.
On November 24, 2023, the Chief Minister, while addressing a marriage function, complained about a former police officer having posted some derogatory content on social media and that information regarding a case registered against him would be shown in the newspapers, the petitioner said.
Though the Chief Minister did not name him in the speech, the woman lawyer filed a complaint against him on the same day, and the police too registered a FIR without even a preliminary inquiry, he lamented. He said the complainant had claimed to have come across a screenshot of the WhatsApp group post.
She had further claimed that the screenshot was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by another individual. Therefore, it was actually that individual with the X handle ‘suryaborntowin’ who had shared the post on a public platform, the former DGP said, and added that he had never posted any such derogatory message.