The Supreme Court has allowed the request of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar, who has been appointed by it to monitor probe in cases related to the ethnic violence in Manipur, to travel abroad.
A three-bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud allowed the plea of the officer after taking note of his letter seeking permission to travel to the United States and Europe.
“A letter has been addressed by Dattatraya Padsalgikar, former Director General of Police, Maharashtra, who has been appointed by this Court to monitor investigations by CBI and Manipur Police SITs.
“Dattatraya Padsalgikar has indicated that he would be travelling to the U.S. and Europe on a personal visit from May 1, 2024 to May 29, 2024. The request is taken on record and the officer is permitted to travel abroad,” the Bench also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.
The hearing on Manipur ethnic violence cases has now been posted for hearing on April 29.
The Supreme Court on August 7 last year had appointed Mr. Padsalgikar to “monitor” the CBI probe into the instances of sexual violence in Manipur.
Mr. Padsalgikar, a 1982 batch IPS officer, was on deputation to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for a few years until he was named as the Mumbai Police commissioner on January 30, 2016.
He served as the head of Mumbai Police till June 29, 2018 before being elevated as the Maharashtra DGP.
On October 29, 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor.
It had also named a three-member committee of former high court judges, headed by retired J&K High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal, to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the Manipur ethnic violence.
