MADURAI: Refusing to transfer the investigation into the Palani Mutt land registration case to the CBI, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the CB-CID to proceed further with the investigation with the confidence that they would reach the right conclusions upon completion of the investigation.
A bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel gave the direction while dismissing a batch of petitions filed seeking transfer of investigation in the above case, which was registered over fraudulent sale of a 1.4 acre land belonging to Palani Dhandapani Swamy Mutt to private individuals.
The judges criticised the petitioners - AIAIDMK ex-MLA KSN Venugopalu, Palani municipality chairman R Uma Maheshwari Pradeep and a trustee of the Palani Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple Annapoorani Sivakumar- for calling themselves victims of the above fraud despite failing to protect the property. “They are merely busybodies who seek to poke their noses into an ongoing investigation, hopefully not for nefarious reasons,” the judges observed.
They also referred to a status report submitted by the CB-CID which revealed that as many as 115 witnesses have been examined since the commencement of the investigation nearly 40 days ago.
The agency has probed into the title of the property, financial transactions relating to the sale deed, electronic communications, the role of private persons, and the conduct of officials belonging to the HR&CE, Revenue and Registration departments, etc, the report said.
The CB-CID also conducted searches at 16 locations across six districts through 16 special teams, and seized 207 documents, 12 mobile phones, three laptops, eight other electronic devices, Rs 2.13 lakh cash, audio records, CCTV footage, among others, the judges noted from the report.
Convinced that the investigation was proceeding at the right pace and the petitioners had failed to make out a case, the judges dismissed the petitions with the above direction.
The petitioners had alleged that some private individuals colluded with government officials in the above fraud, but none of them have been arrayed as an accused. The remaining accused were also arrested only after filing of the above petitions, they added. Since the CB-CID is also under the administrative control of the state, they stated that an independent investigation by the CBI is necessary to cull out the truth.
But CB-CID opposed the petitions by questioning the locus standi of the petitioners and the necessity for seeking a transfer of the investigation. Meanwhile, Justice K Murali Shankar reserved orders on the bail petitions of sub registrar S Justin Manikandan and buyers of the property, K Vellathurai and D Sethupathi.
