Coming down heavily on the state police, the Kerala High Court on Monday observed that the special investigating team probing the Harihara Varma murder case has not taken serious effort to unravel the identity of the victim other than making some search with reference to a passport.
“In a murder case, the identity of the victim should be fixed. The investigation agency is bound to make every effort to unearth the whereabouts, if necessary, by publication of his photo seeking information over his identity,” the court said.
Justice S S Satheesachandran made the observation while dismissing the bail plea of the sixth accused Advocate K Haridas of Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram.
The court said the investigating agency’s finding that Harhara Varma was not a member of the royal familiy, based on his claims, will not be sufficient to establish the real identity.
“Who is he, what is he, from where he hailed from etc, are all matters which required to be probed by the police with all seriousness. Similar is the case with regard to Harihar Varma’s diamond and precious stone business,” it said. The court pointed out that the observation was made to ensure that justice does not become causality on account of failure of the police.
Additional Director General of Prosecution Tom Jose Padinjarekkara submitted that the accused hatched a conspiracy to rob the diamonds and other precious stones possessed by Harihara Varma and murdered him.
The petitioner joined in the conspiracy and facilitated the escape of the other accused. He also fabricated evidence with the assistance of the other accused to make believe that he too was subjected to attack while Varma was murdered.
The court observed that there was reasonable ground to suspect the involvement of the petitioner. After the incident, the petitioner untied his rope, got out of the building through the back door made a phone call to his son. Later, information was passed on to the police only after his son reached the spot.
His release at this stage when the investigation is going on will affect the investigation, the court observed.