Chennai: Special Officer probing Idol theft cases, A.G.Ponn Manickavel, has approached the Madras high court to punish the authorities for committing contempt of court. He alleges that the authorities are deliberately and wilfully disobeying the order passed by the court by not providing the basic facilities for proper investigation of the cases by the Special Investigation Team.
In his petition, Ponn Manickavel alleged that his higher officials in the hierarchy are attempting to interfere with his investigation into the idol theft cases. The higher-ups are keen to ensure that the details of investigation are disclosed to them so that they can appraise the powers that be of the details of the investigation and thereby derail the course of investigation, he added.
He said after he retired from service on November 30, 2018 a court order dated November 30, 2018 appointed a SIT headed by him to continue to investigate the cases to prevent political or bureaucratic interferences.
The very purpose of constituting the SIT under him was sought to be defeated by the authorities in ingenious ways. This amounts to gross disobedience of the orders passed by this court, he added.
Referring to Arulmigu Subramania Swamy Thirukoil, Tiruchendur, he said the manner in which the CCTV cameras were switched off to remove the idol and to instal a fake one and thereafter to again repeat the process to reinstall the old one in the original place reveals the extent of criminality on the part of persons put in charge of temple administration. In the process they damaged the antique peacock idol also. That such a notorious criminal act was committed in the Arulmigu Subramania Swamy Temple, Tiruchendur was shocking, he added.
He said politicians, senior bureaucrats, senior officials of HR & CE department and industrialists were suspects in many cases. Impediments were created to prevent investigation of the cases by the SIT headed by him. When it was stated that 32 CD files were missing at least a minimum of 32 idols should have been stolen. There was concerted effort to prevent investigation of the cases by the SIT and to postpone the investigation as far as possible, he added.
He reiterated that he has been corresponding with the government to provide reasonable accommodation for the members of the team including himself at Kumbakonam for office accommodation and for stay at Kumbakonam for official duty. There were 21 women members in the SIT. The government was refusing to provide accommodation causing serious difficulty in the discharge of their official duty. The difficulties faced by women officers were immense, he added.
