Probe in missing army officer case goes to CBI

Justice PN Prakash who directed the transfer said, “Under normal circumstances, this Court would be relegating the petitioner to file a protest application before the Court concerned on the closure report. However, this Court finds that the missing person was in Army Intelligence and therefore, a thorough probe by a centralised agency may bear fruit.”

However, making it clear that this court is not returning a finding that the investigation of the CB-CID is perfunctory, the judge further noted, “On the solitary ground that the missing person was working in a very sensitive department, this Court is of the view that interests of justice will be subserved if the case is entrusted to the CBI for further investigation.” As per the case, Gnanaprakasam, who was working as

Examiner – II in the Military Intelligence, Army Headquarters, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi, went missing on June 6th, 2010. Following this, a case of ‘man missing’ was registered at the Adambakkam Police station. But dissatisfied with the progress of investigation his wife Yamuna Gnanapraksam filed a habeas corpus petition at the high court.

Pursuant to this, the case was transferred from the Adambakkam police to CB-CID, which re-registered the case. But, CB-CID, which examined about 104 witnesses was unable to make a breakthrough in the investigation. Following this, they filed a closure report on May 14, 2018 before the Judicial Magistrate, Chengalpattu, temporarily closing the case.

Under such circumstances, the petitioner moved the Court seeking CBI investigation. Though Justice Prakash directed the Superintendent of Police, Special Crime Branch, CBI, to entrust the case to a competent officer for further investigation, held, “No time limit can be fixed for cases of this nature since the issue is already eight years old.”