COIMBATORE: Special Judge John Mino, on Monday, granted police custody of the suspended Bharathiar University Vice Chancellor A Ganapathy for interrogation in connection with the alleged bribery case for which he was arrested.
According to judicial sources, officials from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption(DVAC) filed a petition, seeking custody of the V-C, on Thursday. When the case was presented before Judge Mino on Monday, senior defence counsel lawyer C Gnanabharathi raised objection to the request and claimed that the DVAC’s affidavit was defective. “An affidavit should have four ingredients, including the details for which the custody is sought, the signature of the witness or the notary, who has to present the facts verified in the affidavit. However, none of these was followed in submission of the affidavit. A defective affidavit can never be taken as an affidavit at all and hence should be dismissed,” he argued.
In a counter argument, Public Prosecutor Sivakumar told the court that they were seeking custody only to recover the four cheques that were not available at the time of arrest.The defence counsel, stating that there was no document revealing the details of the cheque, argued that the DVAC could bring out fabricated evidence after the investigation. However, the public prosecutor explained that the details of the currency notes and cheques were already produced before the court before the V-C was arrested.
Hearing both arguments, Judge Mino granted police four days’ custody of the V-C, starting from at 4pm on Monday to 4pm on Friday. He also directed defence counsel lawyers to meet the accused every day between 6.30 and 7pm, without disturbing the investigation. Police were also instructed to not harm the V-C, mentally or physically. DVAC sleuths took Ganapathy under their custody for further investigation. They also planned to take him to his residence at the Univeristy to recover the cheques.