In an odd incident, Krishnagiri town police have registered a complaint regarding a gun that went missing from their hands 18 years back.
According to sources, Munirathinam (64), a retired government employee and a resident of Maharajakadai, had handed over his country-made gun to Krishnagiri town police on February 21, 1995, for renewing its license. The officials who had taken the weapon into possession were sub-inspector Suresh Kumar and writer Kalmari.
However, as the process of renewing the license took time, the gun went missing from the police station.
Meanwhile, Munirathinam had been pressing the police to trace and return his gun in vain. To compound his woes, then Sub-inspector Suresh Kumar, who had received the gun, was transferred and was serving as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Palladam.
Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar petitioned the Director General of Police, praying to be relieved from the issue. He claimed that Munirathinam had handed over the gun to writer Kalmari, who since then had retired and died.
However, Krishnagiri police had not registered any complaint in the past 16 years regarding the gun.
The issue came to light after the current Krishnagiri Town police sub-inspector, Sasikumar, lodged a complaint with the station inspector.
Krishnagiri police have not shared much details about the issue. Moreover, police have not been able to answer as to why they were registering a fresh complaint after 18 years, and why was no action taken by police officers in the past 18 years to find the missing gun.
Further, a few years ago, Munirathinam had filed a case in this connection with the Principal Judge Court in Dharmapuri. After hearing the case, the court had directed the police to handover the gun to the petitioner immediately. But even the court order failed to provide relief for Munirathinam.