The Madras High Court on Thursday grilled the investigating officer (IO) in a disproportionate assets case against Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu for having opposed the latter’s discharge from the case in 2016 but having turned a volte face to file a closure report in the corruption case in October 2022.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh interacted with the IO R. Boominathan in open court and asked what prompted him to take up further investigation in the case in 2021 despite having filed a detailed counter affidavit on April 12, 2016 opposing the discharge application filed by the accused.
When the lawyers attempted to intervene, the judge asked them to stay away saying: “It is between the court and Mr. Bhoominathan. Let him answer.” The judge initially asked the officer if he had previous experience in handling corruption cases and the latter replied to have had seven years of experience.
