CHENNAI: Vacation bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Coimbatore, to nominate a Judicial Magistrate to probe the death of Palanisamy, an associate of lottery baron Santiago Martin, according to the provisions of Sec. 176 (A) of the CrPC.
The bench of Justices C V Karthikeyan and Krishnan Ramasamy gave the direction while closing a habeas corpus petition from Rohin Kumar, son of deceased Palanisamy, praying for a CB-CID probe into the death and to hold second post-mortem on the body, by a team of doctors of his choice, on Thursday.
Earlier, Additional Public Prosecutor R Prathap Kumar told the bench that the investigation into the case, in which the provisions of the IPC and SC/ST Act had been included, was being done by the district crime branch DSP and it was going on in a fair manner.
If the probe pin-points anyone, the police would not hesitate to take action against him/them. Hence, there is no reason to transfer the case to the CB CID, Kumar added.
Accepting the submission of Prathap Kumar, the bench rejected the plea to transfer the case to the CB CID. It also permitted the petitioner and his advocate to participate in the probe and make representations to the JM.
The JM is at liberty to take any decision, including one to order second post-mortem on the body of Palanisamy. While doing so, the JM should form a team of doctors, including the doctors to be suggested by the petitioner. They shall, however, be government doctors.
The police should permit the petitioner and his family members to have a look at the body of Palanisamy, the judges added.