LONDON: The case of a retired Indian-origin Scotland Yard officer who was recently cleared of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy 30 years back has been referred to the UK Home Office chief.
Gurpal Virdi, 56, was found not guilty in July of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in the back of a police van nearly 30 years ago and he accused the Metropolitan Police of bringing the case against him as part of a 17-year campaign to "hound" him out of the force.
Sir Peter Bottomley has written a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May calling for her to stage a meeting of senior legal and policing figures to investigate why the prosecution was allowed to go ahead.
He said the case was either pursued for reasons of "incompetence" or "malice" and an inquiry must now get under way.
"In my 40 years of public service this is the worst case of public bodies wasting money and targeting a good person that I have come across," he said.
"I think this justifies an inquiry. The Home Secretary should have the meeting then decide what kind of inquiry is appropriate," Bottomley said.
Virdi was accused of handcuffing the teenager and then prodding him in the bottom with a truncheon during an incident on November 7, 1986.
But he was acquitted by a jury at London's Southwark Crown Court earlier this month after being found not guilty of indecent assault on a male and misconduct in public office.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor, of the directorate of professional standards at the Met, had said:
"Once allegations such as these were raised by the victim it was only right that we investigated them thoroughly and impartially."
However, Virdi, a married father-of-two based in west London, accused the Met Police of trying to discredit him after he gave evidence to an inquiry about racism within the police force.
He told jurors: "This is a typical reaction from a department that has hounded me since 1998, investigating me and following me around and bugging my phone. Doing all sorts of things."