Minister hints at action on Pon Manickavel

Chennai: The controversial police official Pon Manickavel now special officer of the Idol Wing, came under attack by the state law minister C.Ve. Shanmugam who sought to know the details of detection and arrests made so far in the temple idols theft cases.

Contending that the allegations levelled against him by his subordinates need to be looked into, Shanmugam said “he (Pon Manickavel) claims he is straightforward but doesn’t obey higher officials or the government. He seems to be functioning with an ulterior motive. He has not done anything so far.”

Speaking to reporters here on Thursday the Minister sought to know about the cases he had detected since he was appointed to the idol wing and how many temple idols, which were stolen, were recovered and how many arrests  made so far. “This is what we had conveyed to the court,” he added.

Responding to a question on MNM leader Kamal Haasan claiming the government was exerting pressure on honest officials like IG Pon Manickavel, Shanmugam shot back, “who said Pon Manickavel is a straightforward officer? A government official should not function with ulterior motive.” His subordinates have been subjected to mental agony and had complained of rights violations against him alleging they were being harassed and prevented from discharging their duties. “His nature of work is supervisory but he can’t force his subordinate to enquire a particular person or force them to file FIR. Even the DGP has no rights to interfere in the investigation. Only the investigation officer has the right to determine who the accused is,” Shanmugam maintained.

Pon Manickavel’s subordinates who also included officers of the rank of ADSPs have claimed they were forced to foist cases on his personal and professional foes. ADSP Kumar, the Investigating Officer in the theft of nearly 100 bronze idols at the Pandanallur Sri Pasupatheeswarar temple complex in Thanjavur said he was forced to arrest accused persons without sufficient evidence. Another ADSP Elango alleged that no arrests had taken place in the pending cases that the Special Team was mandated to investigate.

“They also say he issued threats if they went against his orders. Many allegations need to be looked into and enquired. There are several allegations against him in the department. He is evading answers as he is armed with the court order…if he was honest he would have cleared himself of the charges against him,” the Minister said.