CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the DGP to clarify the period for which CCTV footage must be maintained at police stations across the State, upset over the response that only 15 days of footage is being retained by the DVAC, against the 18 months mandated by the Supreme Court.
The HC further observed that every day the police maintain CCTV footage for even a minute less than the period directed by the Supreme Court, they would be in breach of the Supreme Court order.
The case concerns the petition filed by Sakthivel alleging corruption and the accused cops' counter-plea to preserve CCTV footage at the Salem and Coimbatore DVAC offices. A resident of Salem district, he lodged a complaint with the Salem DVAC, alleging that he was asked to pay a bribe of Rs 15,000 to permit the smuggling of ration rice. The complaint was against Salem Civil Supplies CID Inspector Ramarajan, Sub-Inspectors Saravanakumar and Ramakrishnan, among others.
Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector Saravanakumar approached the Madras High Court seeking a direction to secure and preserve the CCTV footage from inside the DVAC office in Coimbatore for the period from September 15, 2025, to October 15, 2025, to prove that a false complaint of corruption had been lodged against him and to disprove the prosecution's charges. He also sought the preservation of the CCTV footage from the Salem DVAC office, claiming it was necessary to bring out the truth in the case.
When the matter came up for hearing, DVAC counsel submitted that the Digital Video Recording Systems (DVRS), as they exist, record and retain data only for 15 days.
Petitioner's counsel argued that the DGP had issued a direction to maintain CCTV footage for 18 months.
The court directed the DGP to file the report before the next hearing and adjourned the matter to September 10.