CHENNAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday told the special court for CBI cases in Chennai that it hasn’t received the nod from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) yet to prosecute two retired DGPs of Tamil Nadu in the multi-crore gutka scam case.
The central agency told the court that the sanction order for prosecuting retired DGPs TK Rajendran and S George has not been sent to it so far, and approval for filing a revised charge sheet has also not been given.
Recording the submission, special court judge Malar Valentina posted the matter to August 11.
This is the 11th time the CBI had submitted that it has not yet been accorded sanction by the CVC to prosecute the retired DGPs.
It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu government last year granted a nod for prosecuting former AIADMK ministers BV Ramana and C Vijayabaskar and filing of charge sheet against them in the case. Subsequently, the government forwarded the CBI’s request for a nod for prosecuting the two police officers to the Union government.
Though information emerged that sanction to prosecute the former officers was given in April this year, the CBI has not received the orders yet. The gutka scam rocked the state in 2017 after a surprise raid, first carried out by the Chennai city police, on a godown in the suburbs of Chennai unearthed illegal stocking and sale of the contraband. Subsequently, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) swooped down.
A diary seized from the godown and interrogations revealed that a huge amount of bribes was allegedly paid to the then ministers and top police officers. Recently, the DMK had alleged that the Tamil Nadu governor was sitting on files seeking a nod for prosecuting ex-ministers of the AIADMK – C Vijayabaskar, M R Vijaya Baskar, K C Veeramani and BV Ramana — in various cases including the gutka scam.