The judge said the SIT would file a status report every fortnight. (file)
Chennai:
Unhappy with the probe being carried out by the CBI and the state CB CID, the Madras High Court on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of KN Ramajeyam of Tiruchirappalli, brother of DMK minister KN. instructed. Nehru.
Justice V Bharathidasan observed that even after 10 years of the murder, there has been no success in the case.
The judge said the SIT, which would include both the state police and the central agency, would be headed by Tuticorin SP S Jayakumar and would initiate a fresh investigation.
The judge was passing the interim order on a petition filed by KN Ravichandran, another brother of Ramajayam, seeking handing over of the probe to the state police.
The judge directed CB-CID DGP Mohammad Shakeel Akhtar to oversee the investigation to be conducted by the SIT.
“Although almost ten years have passed, the major investigation wing of the state and the Center – CB CID and CBI – could not even ascertain the motive behind the murder. It is a very unfortunate situation,” the judge said.
The judge said that no useful purpose would be served by transferring the investigation from the CBI to the state police, as prayed by the petitioner. He said that an SIT consisting of dedicated and efficient officers can single-handedly break the ice and take the matter to its logical end at the earliest.
Senior advocate NR Elango appeared for the petitioner while State Public Prosecutor Hassan Mohammad Jinnah represented the state.
The SIT will file the status report every fortnight, the judge said and directed that the first report be filed on March 7. He directed the Registry to place the matter before the Acting Chief Justice as requested by the petitioner’s senior counsel.
On March 29, 2012, Ramajayam was found dead with his body tied and bound on the banks of the river Kaveri.
The murder shook the delta region and the CB CID went unnoticed despite probing from multiple angles. In 2017, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI. However, the central agency also did not get any success in the investigation.
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