EC to appeal against quashing of R.K. Nagar bribery case
A single judge of HC struck down the FIR in March 2018
21/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI
The Election Commission has decided to go on appeal to the Supreme Court challenging an order passed by a single judge of Madras High Court on March 13 last year quashing a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Greater Chennai police in April 2017 regarding alleged bribing of voters during the campaign for Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (popularly known as R.K. Nagar) byelection which got rescinded.
Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee were informed of EC’s decision during the hearing of a batch of four writ petitions, including the one filed by N. Marudhu Ganesh, DMK candidate, in 2017. All the four petitioners had insisted upon initiation of penal action against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and others for having allegedly attempted to bribe voters to make T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who was then in AIADMK (Amma) and contested as an independent, win the byelection.
According to the petitioners, the EC had rescinded the bypoll to the constituency on April 2017 after the Income Tax Department conducted searches at several places and seized crucial documents from the residence of the Health Minister. The documents were related to ₹89.65 crore having been reportedly given to various ministers, including the Chief Minister, for being distributed among voters of R.K. Nagar.
After the Income Tax Department forwarded the documents to the EC, the latter rescinded the bypoll notification and instructed the Returning Officer to lodge a police complaint. Accordingly, the Abhiramapuram police here filed an FIR on April 21, 2017 without naming anyone as an accused. Subsequently, Tiruttani MLA P.M. Narasimhan of the AIADMK filed a petition in the High Court to quash the FIR.
Although the petitioner was in no way connected to the case, a single judge of the High Court allowed his petition and quashed the FIR on the ground that it had been booked solely on the basis of an unsigned paper which contained the names of some ministers. The order was passed without the knowledge of the ECI. The Abhiramapuram police alone had been heard before the FIR was quashed.
The news of the FIR having been quashed came to light only in December 2018 when a Division Bench led by Justice Sathyanayranan was hearing the the batch of four writ petitions. Taking serious note of the issue, the judges came down heavily on the police for having let the FIR get quashed.
The batch of cases were heard last on January 24. After a lull of about eight months when they got listed on Friday, advocate G. Janani, representing EC counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan, sought time. When the judges insisted on knowing the stand of ECI, she said, a decision had been taken to go on appeal against single judge’s order.
A single judge of HC struck down the FIR in March 2018
21/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI
The Election Commission has decided to go on appeal to the Supreme Court challenging an order passed by a single judge of Madras High Court on March 13 last year quashing a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Greater Chennai police in April 2017 regarding alleged bribing of voters during the campaign for Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (popularly known as R.K. Nagar) byelection which got rescinded.
Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee were informed of EC’s decision during the hearing of a batch of four writ petitions, including the one filed by N. Marudhu Ganesh, DMK candidate, in 2017. All the four petitioners had insisted upon initiation of penal action against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and others for having allegedly attempted to bribe voters to make T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who was then in AIADMK (Amma) and contested as an independent, win the byelection.
According to the petitioners, the EC had rescinded the bypoll to the constituency on April 2017 after the Income Tax Department conducted searches at several places and seized crucial documents from the residence of the Health Minister. The documents were related to ₹89.65 crore having been reportedly given to various ministers, including the Chief Minister, for being distributed among voters of R.K. Nagar.
After the Income Tax Department forwarded the documents to the EC, the latter rescinded the bypoll notification and instructed the Returning Officer to lodge a police complaint. Accordingly, the Abhiramapuram police here filed an FIR on April 21, 2017 without naming anyone as an accused. Subsequently, Tiruttani MLA P.M. Narasimhan of the AIADMK filed a petition in the High Court to quash the FIR.
Although the petitioner was in no way connected to the case, a single judge of the High Court allowed his petition and quashed the FIR on the ground that it had been booked solely on the basis of an unsigned paper which contained the names of some ministers. The order was passed without the knowledge of the ECI. The Abhiramapuram police alone had been heard before the FIR was quashed.
The news of the FIR having been quashed came to light only in December 2018 when a Division Bench led by Justice Sathyanayranan was hearing the the batch of four writ petitions. Taking serious note of the issue, the judges came down heavily on the police for having let the FIR get quashed.
The batch of cases were heard last on January 24. After a lull of about eight months when they got listed on Friday, advocate G. Janani, representing EC counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan, sought time. When the judges insisted on knowing the stand of ECI, she said, a decision had been taken to go on appeal against single judge’s order.
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