Senior IPS officer Pramod Kumar being introduced to the Additional District Court, CBI, in Coimbatore on May 03, 2012. File
The Madras High Court has agreed to hear on June 6, a petition filed by Indian Police Service (IPS) officer S. Pramod Kumar to quash an extortion case pending against him since 2012, in reference to the ₹870.10 crore Paazee foreign exchange rip-off, that was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Justice G. Chandrasekharan directed the High Court Registry to record the petition instantly after the summer time trip. The route was issued after Senior Counsel P.S. Raman informed the courtroom that the petitioner was one of the contenders to the put up of Director-General of Police (Law and Order).
The counsel mentioned, the incumbent head of police drive C. Sylendra Babu was due to retire from service on June 30 and the petitioner, being one of the senior law enforcement officials within the State, could be eligible to be thought of for the highest put up if the extortion case pending for over a decade against him, was quashed by the courtroom.
It was introduced to the discover of the courtroom that the Tiruppur Central Crime Branch police had registered a case in 2009 against Paazee Forex Trading India Private Limited for having cheated depositors to the tune of a number of hundred crores of rupees. Then, one of its administrators Komalavalli Arumugham went lacking. Hence, a separate ‘woman missing’ case was registered in 2009 on the premise of her driver’s criticism. The girl appeared earlier than the police on her personal and it was learnt that she went into hiding to escape from the depositors. However, she claimed to have been kidnapped and launched on cost of ransom. The girl accused some law enforcement officials of having been concerned within the crime.
Subsequently, the Madras High Court in 2011 transferred the dishonest case registered against the corporate in addition to the case associated to the demand for ransom, to the CBI which arrested Mr. Kumar, the then Inspector General of Police (west zone), in 2012. Though he was suspended from service, pursuant to the arrest, and disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against him, the officer acquired them put aside in 2017. In the meantime, a particular courtroom for CBI circumstances in Coimbatore convicted the administrators of Paazee Trading in August 2022 and sentenced them to 27 years of imprisonment.
However, the case for ransom was pending until date, even with out the framing of expenses, the senior counsel complained and contended that the case was liable to be quashed on the easy floor that the CBI had failed to get hold of Centre’s prior approval below Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.
Claiming that the petitioner was an officer equal to the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, the counsel mentioned it was obligatory to get hold of earlier approval of the Centre earlier than conducting an inquiry or investigating a case booked against such an officer below the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
Mr. Raman additionally contended that there was no proof of any demand or receipt of bribe, and there was no cash path linking the petitioner with the alleged crime. After hearing him at size, the decide ordered the itemizing of the case in June for the looks of Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan on behalf of the CBI.
