CHENNAI: Expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation by the Central Crime Branch in tracking film producer Madhan, who went missing since May 27, the Madras high court on Thursday warned that it would transfer the probe to some other independent agency, if state police are unable to crack the case any further. A Division Bench comprising Justices S.Nagamuthu and V.Bharathidasan said this during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition by R.S.Thangam, mother of Madhan, which sought to produce her son before the court and set him at liberty.
When the case came up for hearing, the newly appointed public prosecutor R.Rajarathinam submitted that the police will expedite the investigation and sought more time. Immediately, the court reiterated its earlier observation that the case had been entrusted to CCB 70 days ago but nothing has been done so far. Advocate R.C.Paul Kanagaraj, appearing for 16 parents/students who had paid several lakhs each for getting medical seat in SRM institutions, submitted they had first met Pachamuthu, chairman of SRM group of educational institutions, who had instructed them to pay the money to Madhan. The complainants have specifically mentioned certain names which included Pachamuthu. But none of them were enquired. Even the complainants were not examined. There were 101 complaints involving different transactions and hence each complaint should be investigated separately by police. But the police failed to do so, he added.
The Bench asked police as to why they had not interrogated Pachamuthu and others. “Is there any political reasons for it?” Expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted so far, the Bench said, “If no further development is shown by the state police, we might be constrained to hand over investigation to some other independent agency. If we transfer the case, it will be a disgrace to the state police”. Adjourning the case to August 30 for further hearing, the Bench made it clear that it would be the last chance for Tamil Nadu police to show some improvement in the probe.
