'Calculated Attempt To Exonerate Influential Accused': Kerala High Court Cancels Further Investigation In Misappropriation Case Against Vellappally Natesan

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday paved for trial to proceed against SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan, in a case alleging misappropriation of funds.The Single Judge Bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. set aside the permission granted by a Magistrate Court in Kollam to conduct further investigation. It noted that the request for further investigation was made by a former member of the investigation team, that too after his retirement. Stating that bonafides in making such a request is highly suspicious, the Court was prima facie satisfied that,"...there is a calculated attempt to exonerate the accused, a very influential person, without even a trial". The Court thus directed the CJM to conduct trial based on the final report already produced, as expeditiously as possible.Factual BackgroundAs per the prosecution case, Natesan had been Secretary of the Sree Narayana Trust, Kollam (SN Trust) since 1995, which ran various establishments throughout the State, including various educational institutions. The allegation against him is that he had misappropriated a substantial portion of the amount collected towards celebrating the Golden Jubilee year of Sree Narayana College, Kollam, one of the colleges run by the SN Trust, by diverting the amount to other channels without any authorization, in the year 1997-98. A private complaint was preferred against Natesan by the de facto complainant before the Magistrate, alleging offences punishable under sections 403, 406, 408 and 420 of IPC. The matter is currently pending trial. During this time however, Natesan filed one of the present writ petitions explaining the nature of the above transactions and claiming that the same were not misappropriations warranting any criminal prosecution. It was averred that the statement of the accountant was incorrectly recorded during the investigation and a complaint had thus been filed before the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) in that regard. He thus sought a direction to be issued to the ADGP to consider the same before the disposal of the case by the Magistrate. He further sought a direction to be issued to the ADGP and Superintendent of Police to ascertain whether he had encashed the alleged amount. Meanwhile, subsequent to filing of the Final Report, a former member of the SIT that conducted the investigation issued a letter to the Superintendent of Police pointing out that Prof. Sathyan had written an article in a souvenir commemorating the 25th anniversary of the tenure of office of the accused as General Secretary of SNDP Yogam and SN Trust, commending him for carrying out the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. In the souvenir, it was written that the accused had made a profit of Rs. 20,00,000/- to the Yogam by conducting the All India Exhibition, contrary to his statement in the final report. The retired officer thus requested a further investigation by invoking section 173(8) Cr.P.C. Based on the same, the ADGP granted permission to take steps for further investigation, without any discussion as to the grounds, after reporting the matter to the court. The prosecution application seeking formal application was also granted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kollam. It is in this context that the de facto complainant also filed a writ petition challenging the decision to conduct further investigation and all further proceedings pursuant to it.Findings of the CourtThe Court in this case discerned that there were two important aspects that had to be ascertained:A. Whether the further investigation now being conducted would be legally sustainable The Court in this regard observed that the power of the investigation officer under Section 173(8) Cr.P.C. is very wide, and can be invoked at any stage of the proceedings. However, the Court was quick to add in this regard that, "...merely because the investigation officer is clothed with the power to investigate the matter further, such power cannot be invoked at his whims and fancies. It must be supported by reasons justifiable in law, and in cases where such powers were improperly or maliciously or arbitrarily or with malafide intentions exercised, nothing would preclude this Court from interfering with such proceedings by exercising the powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. To be precise, this Court cannot be a mute spectator and endorse the exercise of such powers by the investigation agency when it was shown that the said power was invoked arbitrarily to give some undue advantage to one of the parties to the prosecution, either the victim or accused, and thus, an abuse of process of law". The Court thus categorically laid down that the exercise of such power ought to be for protecting the interests of the prosecution and for ensuring justice to the concerned parties. The Court noted that in this case, the decision to conduct further investigation had been taken on the basis of the communication issued by the former investigaor, which the Court...

'Calculated Attempt To Exonerate Influential Accused': Kerala High Court Cancels Further Investigation In Misappropriation Case Against Vellappally Natesan

Navya Benny

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