Chennai: CBI to investigate Army officer's disappearance
Chennai: The Madras high court transferred the investigation relating to the disappearance of an army intelligence officer, who went missing in Chennai under mysterious circumstances in 2010, from the CB-CID to the CBI.
When a petition from his wife Yamuna Gnanaprakasam came up for hearing on Wednesday before Justice P.N. Prakash, the judge has transferred the investigation to CBI and directed the Superintendent of Police, CB-CID, to hand over the case diary to the Superintendent of Police, Special Crime Branch, CBI, Rajaji Bhavan, Besant Nagar, Chennai, who shall entrust the case to a competent officer for further investigation.
In her petition, Yamuna Gnanaprakasam said that her husband P. Gnanaprakasam was working as examiner-II in Military Intelligence, Army Headquarters, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. Gnanaprakasam and Yamuna came to Chennai along with their daughter to attend a family function at Kutteripattu near Tindivanam on May 23, 2010. After the function they returned to Chennai to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law who suddenly expired on May 30, 2010.
On June 6, 2010, he went to Chennai Central Railway station to pick up his son who was studying in Ooty and arriving by train. But when she contacted him over phone the same day at around 5.30 am to enquire whether he had picked up their son, Gnanaprakasam replied that he was not in a position to pick up him and asked her to assign the work to her brother.
When she contacted him at 9.15 am, he replied that he was going to Tirupati and was not in a position to reveal anything. At around 8.30 pm the same day, a man identifying himself as Sunder picked up the cell phone and told her that Gnanaprakasam was attending an important meeting and would call after 2 hours. After that his cell phone remained switched off.
Based on her complaint, Adambakkam police registered a case on June 8, 2010. As there was no progress in the investigation she filed a petition in the High Court which transferred the investigation to the CB-CID.
Investigation commenced four years later on October 7, 2014, but there was no breakthrough. Therefore, they filed a closure report on May 14, 2018 before the Judicial Magistrate-I, Chengleput, temporarily closing the case. Aggrieved at this, she approached the High Court again with the present petition, seeking a CBI investigation.
Transferring the case to the CBI, Justice PN Prakash said that the missing person was in Army Intelligence and therefore, a thorough probe by a centralised agency could bear fruit. On the solitary ground that the missing person was working in a very sensitive department, the court felt that interests of justice would be sub-served if the case is entrusted to the CBI for further investigation.”
