HC declines to quash murder proceedings against former DSP

The Madras High Court today declined to quash murder case proceedings in a lower court at Tirunelveli against a former Deputy Superintendent of Police on the ground that he was not protected under the Criminal Procedure Code as he had acted beyond his jurisdictional area.
Rejecting the plea of I Eswaran, the second accused in the case, Justice M M Sundaresh said he had not performed his duty in his jurisdictional area of Nagercoil, but in Tirunelveli district, allegedly causing the death of a man. Then he would not be protected under CrPc.
Easwaran is now Deputy Commissioner of Coimbatore.

The judge said there was no need to get sanction for filing the FIR by CB-CID DSP in the case if Easwarn did not act in the area where he was supposed to work.
He said Easwaran had not acted in his official capacity but in his personal capacity when Masood was brought from Tirunelveli to Kanyakumari district, where he was allegedly murdered and burnt.
The petitioner submitted that the case was registered on a complaint by the wife of the deceased, who said he was taken to the police station from Kadayanallur to Aralvaimozhi for questioning on November 28, 2005.

Police had assured they would send him back the next day but had not done so. He was murdered and then burnt, she said.

CB-CID investigated and registered cases against Easwaran and 11 others under various sections of IPC, including 302 (murder).
The petitioner contented that no criminal prosecution of a police officer for an offence committed in his official capacity could be instituted without the sanction of an officer not inferior to the rank of a Superintendent.
As he was a public servant, the act of the Judicial Magistrate in taking cognizance of the alleged offence and committing to the Addtional district and sessions judge of Tirunelveli was bad in law, he said.

He said CB-CID had filed the case only in Tirunelveli district and a case (taking Masood into illegal custody murdering and burning his body) was pending in Kanyakumari in a judicial Magistrate court.
Besides, he had sought discharge from the case and it was also pending in the Additional District Sessions court, he said.
The petitioner also sought a stay in proceedings in the case in the Additional Sessions court in Tirunelveli district.