HC transfers case of missing army intelligence officer to CBI

The Madras High Court has ordered a CBI probe into a case of an army intelligence officer missing since 2010 in which the Tamil Nadu Crime-Branch CID filed a closure report in a lower court last month after failing to crack it.

Justice P N Prakash ordered transfer of the case from CB-CID to the CBI on a petition from the wife of officer P Gnanaprakasam, who went missing from here in June, 2010.

In his order passed on June 18, the Judge said that under normal circumstances, the court would be relegating the petitioner, Yamuna nanaprakasam, to file an application before the lower court protesting the closure report.

However, the court finds that the missing person was in army intelligence. Therefore, a thorough probe by a central agency may bear fruit, Justice Prakash said.

The Judge made it clear that the court was not concluding the CB-CID probe as perfunctory but was of the view that interests of justice would be sub-served if the case was entrusted to the CBI for further investigation.

He directed the CB-CID to hand over the case diary to CBI for further investigations.

Gnanaprakasam, working in the military intelligence wing at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi, had come here with his wife and daughter to attend a family function on May 23, 2010 at Kutteripattu near Tindivanam, about 130 km from here.

After the function, they returned to the city to attend a funeral.

Later, on June 6, the officer went to the central railway station here to pick up his student-son, arriving by a train from Udhagamandalam.

When his wife called him to check whether their son had arrived, the officer told her he was not in a position to pick him up and asked her brother to do so.

A few hours later, she against contacted her husband and he said he was going to Tirupati and that he cannot reveal anything further.

Late that night, the petitioner again contacted him but a person answered the call, saying her husband was attending an important meeting and would get in touch with her after two hours, the petition said.

After that, the officer's cellphone was switched off and he remains missing.

On a complaint by the officer's wife, city police registered a case.

As there was no indication of any progress in the investigation by the local police, she filed a petition before the high court, which transferred the case to the CB-CID.

Since it also could not make a breakthrough, the CB-CID filed a closure report on May 14 before the judicial magistrate-I, Chengelput, about 50 km from here, seeking a temporary closure of the case.

Following this, the officer's wife again approached the high court seeking a CBI probe.