Chennai: More than a month after Calcutta high court judge C.S. Karnan vanished from a government guest house in Chennai, it is now learnt that Tamil Nadu police had failed to detain the absconding judge on the night of May 9, despite West Bengal police sending a request.
The Supreme Court had sentenced him to six-month jail term on May 9 and had asked WB police to execute the order. Sources said that commissioner of police Bidhannagar personally talked to the Chennai police commissioner around 10.10 pm on May 9 seeking assistance and request was also made to detain him. Communication, which was sent from Kolkata, was received at the police control room on the same night.
But TN police failed in detaining Karnan, who vacated the guesthouse room on Wednesday early morning, saying that he was going to Srikalahasti temple in Andhra Pradesh.
And the West Bengal police team headed by DGP Raj Kanojia reached on the afternoon of May 10 only to learn that Karnan has vanished. Since then a five-member West Bengal police team consisting DGP Raj Kanojia and Officers Ranveer Kumar, C Sudhakar, Dipankar Bakshi and Sukumal Kanti Das is camping in Chennai to carry out the SC's judgment.
West Bengal DGP Raj Kanojia told this newspaper his team is still on the lookout for Karnan. Search for him is still going on and we may track him in a day or a week, he said. Police officials tried to justify the delay, saying that tracing a non-criminal would be more difficult than a common criminal whose footprint could be easily traced. A senior Chennai police officer claimed that the city police is actively assisting the WB police team.
