A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court, seeking to quash the Thrissur Vigilance court order, rejecting the plea to register corruption cases against forest and police officials, for not taking action against actor Mohanlal in connection with the seizure of tusks from his house.
The petition was filed by Pramod of Moorkkanadu in Thrissur. He submitted that elephant tusks were seized from the house of Mohanlal when the Income Tax officials raided his house in Kochi on July 22, 2011.
Though the forest officials registered a case against Mohanlal, they had not taken any further steps to get him arrested despite the fact he had committed a grave offence under Wild Protection Act. The petition alleged that former Forest Minister and actor K B Ganesh Kumar, who was close friend of Mohanlal, influenced the officials and saved him from being arrested.
The petitioner contended that it was a clear case of corruption. The forest and police officials were hand in glove with the offender to shield him from the arrest and to see that the case was weakened. He also alleged that though 19 tusks were recovered from the residence during the raid, only four were mentioned in the FIR.
The vigilance court had dismissed a petition seeking registration of cases against the forest officials. The plea was rejected on the ground that cases registered in connection with the seizure of tusks were pending before the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Perumbavoor.
The vigilance court had also observed that merely because a Minister was a close friend of the actor, it could not be said that he had influenced the officials. Besides, the Minister had nothing to do with the investigation of the case, it held.
The petitioner also sought a directive to Perumbavoor Magistrate to reopen the case and complete the proceedings in accordance with law.