IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
WP(C) No. 36710 of 2007(T)
1. AMBROSE JOSEPH,
... Petitioner
Vs
1. THE STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS
... Respondent
2. THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE KERALA,
3. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE CBCID,
4. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE,
5. THE CIRCLE INSPECTOR OF POLICE,
6. THE SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE,
For Petitioner :SRI.SUMAN CHAKRAVARTHY
For Respondent : No Appearance
The Hon'ble MR. Justice V.RAMKUMAR
Dated :11/01/2008
O R D E R
V. RAMKUMAR , J.
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W.P.(C). No. 36710 of 2007
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Dated this the 11th day of January, 2008.
JUDGMENT
In this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India, the petitioner who is the brother of deceased Dominic, seeks a
direction to transfer the investigation of crime No. 111/2007 of
Kadinamkulam Police Station. to the 3rd respondent, Superintendent of
Police, CBCID, Thiruvananthapuram or any other competent
independent investigating agency for proper, effective and expeditious
investigation regarding the cause of death of Dominic, the brother of
the petitioner.
2. The body of Dominic aged 49 years who was the brother of
the petitioner was found in his residence on 07.08.2007 at 7 a.m.
There are rival versions regarding the stage of the body when it was
first found. According to the daughter of Dominic the body was found
hanging in the bedroom. But going by the version of the son of
Dominic the body was lying on a cot. There appears to be some
attempt on the part of the inmates of the house to stifle the truth.
Whatever that may be, the dead body of Dominic was hurriedly buried
on 07.08.2007 itself. Even though it was evidently a case of unnatural
death, nobody seem to have informed the police and the burial was
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conducted on the same day without the police being informed. It was
long thereafter on 23.08.2007 that the sister of the deceased lodged a
complaint before the Kadinamkulam Police which registered the
aforesaid crime under the caption “unnatural death” under Section 174
Cr.P.C. On a complaint lodged by the petitioner before the RDO,
Thiruvananthapuram, the dead body of Dominic was exhumed and
subjected to autopsy. Ext.P2 is the postmortem certificate wherein
there were two injuries on the back of the head and the opinion as to
the cause of death also was that the death was due to head injury.
According to the petitioner, the investigation by the local police has
been tardy and the petitioner suspects that the death of Dominic was
homicidal and he also suspects the influence of the culprits behind the
slow pace in the investigation and hence this writ petition for
transferring the investigation to crime branch.
3. The learned Public Prosecutor in charge of the case submitted
that there has been no lethargy on the part of the investigating agency
in proceeding with the investigation and that the inmates of the house
namely the son, daughter and son-in-law of the deceased are being
subjected to polygraph test to ascertain whether the statement given
by them reflect the true story behind the death of Dominic.
W.P.(C) NO. 36710/2007 : 3 :
4. Even though the investigation had commenced on
23.08.2007, so far, no tangible progress has been shown in the
investigation and the theory of suicide which the inmates of the house
wanted the rest of the world to accept, prima facie, does not appear to
be true in view of the postmortem findings. Such being the position,
the investigation should be entrusted in the hands of a team which is
better equipped to unravel the real truth behind the death of Dominic.
Hence, without making any observations regarding the investigation
thus far conducted by the local police, I direct the investigation to be
entrusted with the 3rd respondent, the Superintendent of Police,
CBCID, Thiruvananthapuram. The 3rd respondent shall immediately
constitute a team of competent officers and continue the investigation
and file a final report before the court concerned expeditiously after
exploring all possibilities in the matter.
V. RAMKUMAR, JUDGE.
rv
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