Madras HC refuses to transfer Savukku’s house attack case to CBI
Disposing of Shankar’s mother A Kamala’s petition, Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan held that there was no ground at this juncture to transfer the probe from CBCID to CBI, and directed the State agency to complete the probe and file the final report within 12 weeks.;
Savukku Shankar, Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court refused to transfer the investigation into the incident where a group of people claiming to be cleanliness workers ransacked popular YouTuber Savukku Shankar's house to the CBI and directed the State government to complete the probe expeditiously.
Disposing of Shankar’s mother A Kamala’s petition, Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan held that there was no ground at this juncture to transfer the probe from CBCID to CBI, and directed the State agency to complete the probe and file the final report within 12 weeks.
Kamala had moved the court alleging that the CB-CID was not conducting the investigation properly to nab the accused and sought to transfer the probe to CBI for independent investigation.
Her counsel submitted that the CB-CID has not even recorded the statements of eyewitnesses as per section 161 of CrPC and said the probe needs to be transferred to an independent agency as a mob trespassed into the petitioner's house and threatened the senior citizen.
Additional public prosecutor A Gopinath submitted that the CB-CID had identified 21 persons involved in the case, of whom five were already arrested, while the other accused were yet to be nabbed. “The investigation is under way. The entire investigation will be affected if the probe is transferred to some other agency at this stage,” he added.
After the submission, the judge refused to transfer the case as the incident took place only 20 days ago.
However, the court had directed the CB-CID to complete the investigation and file the final report expeditiously.
On March 24, a group of persons dressed like cleanliness workers, barged into Shankar’s rental house in Kilpauk. They dumped garbage and faeces on the floor of the house and ransacked the place.
The group alleged that Shankar had made derogatory comments against cleanliness workers in an interview that was aired on YouTube. It hurt their feelings and hence they ransacked his house, the group claimed.
Shankar took to social media and posted a visual of the video call the group made to him while ransacking his house, in which they threatened him with abusive words.
After the incident, Kamala filed a complaint with the Kilpauk police. Later, the case was transferred to CB-CID.