The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the 2012 murder of K.N. Ramajeyam, brother of Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru. The decision was taken since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had been probing the case since 2017, has been unable to make any breakthrough since then.
Justice V. Bharathidasan ordered that the SIT should comprise of Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police S. Jeyakumar, Ariyalur Deputy Superintendent of Police Madan and CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police R. Ravi. The judge directed the CBI Director to depute Mr. Ravi exclusively for the purpose of the murder investigation and not transfer him without court orders.
The judge also made it clear that the SIT shall be headed by Mr. Jeyakumar and ordered that Director General of Police, Mohammed Shakeel Akhtar, attached to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) monitor the investigation. He also issued a direction to the State government to provide all necessary accommodation and infrastructure to the SIT.
The SIT was directed to begin the investigation as early as possible after a briefing by the CBI DSP regarding the investigation conducted so far. Stating that the probe could preferably begin before February 21, the judge ordered that a status report on the investigation must be filed once in a fortnight and the first of such reports should be filed on or before March 21.
The court also said that it would monitor the investigation conducted by the SIT and directed the High Court Registry to place the case before Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari for taking a decision on the administrative side so that the case could continue to be listed before Justice Bharathidasan at the request of the counsel for the petitioner, as well as the State Public Prosecutor.
The body of Mr. Ramajeyam, a businessman dealing with granite mining, real estate and exports, was found on the banks of the Cauvery near Thiruvalarsolai on the outskirts of Tiruchi on March 29, 2012. The circumstances indicated that he was done to death after being abducted during his morning walk. The CB-CID has been unable to solve the case till 2017.
Hence, on an application preferred by Latha Ramajeyam, wife of the deceased, the investigation was transferred to the CBI which too could not make any headway, forcing the family members of the deceased to make another application for the constitution of a SIT.
