The investigation into the murder of a 24-year-old woman at Nungambakkam Railway Station has been transferred to the Chennai police from the Railway police, the Special Public Prosecutor told the Madras High Court on Monday.
The judges while hearing the SPP said that the court will take suo moto proceedings with the concurrence of Chief Justice if there was any ‘slackness’ in the investigation.
With no arrests made three days after the murder of Swathi, the Madras High Court on Monday asked the Special Public Prosecutor to submit a status report about the case.
The SPP told Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan that a team of 25 police personnel headed by ACP KPS Devaraj has been constituted to probe the case and the Cyber Crime Branch and CB-CID are also assisting the investigation. The court was also informed that the DCP is also monitoring the investigation closely.
When the judges raised their apprehension about the lack of coordination between the investigating agencies (Chennai police and Government Railway Police) based on media reports, the SPP said that there is co-ordination and both the DGP and the Chennai City Commissioner of Police visited the post.
The judges further asked why there was a delay in transferring the case and if it was done after the court took a suo moto notice of the ‘gruesome’ murder. The judges also asked about why the victim’s body was lying unattended for two hours and why there were no CCTV cameras in the railway station.
The court criticised the state government stating, that due to lack of vision 90% of the cases related to Goonda Act are quashed due to delay.