The exclusion of the names of a State Minister and two DGP-rank officers from the FIR relating to the gutkha scam, registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), was shocking, as it went against the spirit of the Madras High Court order calling for a fair and transparent investigation into the case, DMK working president M.K. Stalin said here on Tuesday.
Referring to the report, “FIR in gutkha scam has no mention of Minister, two DGP-rank officers”, published in The Hindu on Tuesday, Mr. Stalin alleged that the move to include the names of middle-level staff while dropping those of the Minister and senior police officials was a deliberate one, adding that the Vigilance Commissioner appointed to monitor the investigation as per the direction of the HC should initiate contempt proceedings against those responsible for the same.
Recalling various attempts to derail the probe into the scam, Mr. Stalin said that the court, while hearing a petition demanding an investigation by the CBI, had ordered that a Vigilance Commissioner be appointed, and directed the DVAC to conduct a probe. “But nothing seems to have changed even after the appointment of the Vigilance Commissioner. He doesn’t seem to be monitoring the haphazard way of investigation by the DVAC...it is perplexing that the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary remain mute spectators to the anti-corruption agency losing its functional autonomy,” he said.
Meanwhile, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss demanded a CBI inquiry into the Gutkha scam. He also questioned why the Health Minister and top-level police officers had not been added to the list of accused.