RK Nagar bypoll: Govt not to challenge quashing of FIR

Recording the submission made by Advocate General Vijay Narayan in this regard on Wednesday, a division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee adjourned the plea for final hearing to November 7.

Meanwhile, in a counter-affidavit, the inspector of Police, Abhiramapuram police station, submitted that in the light of the fact that the FIR has been quashed by the High Court on March 13, 2018, and that there being no FIR pending on the file of the Abhiramapuram Police, there was no need for impleading the CBI.

The investigation was conducted in a proper manner and the file was produced before the High Court. The single judge, on recording the developments and the stage at which the investigation was, quashed the FIR. Hence there could be no malice or bias that could be attributed to the Abhiramapuram police in the conduct of investigation, the inspector added in the affidavit. However, appearing for the petitioner, Maruthu Ganesh, the DMK candidate who lost the election, senior counsel P Wilson submitted that the activities that had transpired leading to the quashing of FIR based on police hiding certain details clearly revealed that the police were acting hand in glove with those involved in distributing money.

It may be noted that during the earlier hearing, the counsel appearing for the Election Commission of India (ECI) had informed the court that the returning officers have been asked to move an appeal regarding the single judge quashing the FIR, which was registered based on a complaint that the Commission lodged.

The issue relates to searches and seizure of documents by the Income Tax department in various places on April 7, 2017, allegedly related to bribing of voters with Rs 89 Crore. This had led to the cancellation of the polls then. On a direction by the Election Commission, the returning officer of the constituency had lodged a police complaint on April 27, based on which the FIR was registered against unknown persons.