Kerala HC quashes FIR against former DGP TP Senkumar

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Friday quashed the FIR registered against former state police chief TP Senkumar alleging forging of medical certificates to obtain remuneration while on leave.
After considering a petition filed by Senkumar challenging the case, the court held that registration of the FIR was in violation of section 154 of Code of Criminal Procedure, which stipulates that information regarding an offence received by an officer should be reduced to writing, read over to the informant, and be signed by the informant.

In the case against Senkumar, it was the chief secretary who directed the state police chief to register an FIR and conduct an investigation on the complaint filed by former Thiruvananthapuram Corporation councillor AJ Sukarno, the court pointed out.

The case was registered by the station house officer of Museum police station on the pressure exerted by higher officials who had no authority to issue a directive, the court said. The direction issued by the chief secretary to the state police chief was illegal, the court held.

In the order, the court also mentioned that there was no mention of any offence in the complaint when it was forwarded to police.

Complainant Sukarno was also criticised by the court, with the order stating that he was nothing but a puppet at the hands of those with enmity to Senkumar. The order also noted that Sukarno, as the de facto complainant, was imposed a fine of Rs25,000 by the Supreme Court while upholding the high court’s order quashing the FIR against Senkumar over sanctioning of loans while he was the managing director of Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation Ltd (KTDFC).