Madurai Kamaraj University sex scandal: Plea in Madras HC seeks transfer of investigation from CB-CID to CBI

MADURAI: The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) on Wednesday approached the Madurai bench of the Madras high court seeking to transfer investigations into the alleged sex scandal involving Aruppukottai college assistant professor Nirmala Devi and others from the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to the Central Bureau of Investigation. AIDWA contended that the CB-CID investigation only targeted the small fry and let the top officials, alleged to be involved in the scandal, off the hook.
Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor at Devanga Arts College in Aruppukottai, was arrested on April 16 after an audio clip of her telephonic conversation with girl students, in which she purportedly asked them to do ‘favours’ for some senior MKU officials, went viral on social media.


The CB-CID, which took over the case, arrested two others - Murugan, an assistant professor at MKU, and Karuppasamy, a research scholar.

The investigating agency filed a preliminary chargesheet before the magistrate on July 13 and a supplementary chargesheet two months later. Trial on the case is underway in a mahila court in Srivilliputhur.

The CB-CID had deposed before the Madras high court that the “higher officials” for whom Nirmala Devi had lured the girls for were Karuppasamy and Murugan.

In the petition before the high court bench, AIDWA general secretary P Suganthi said, “The investigating agency picked and chose the accused to suit their story to make a formal final report in order to let off bigger persons for whom alone these kind of solicitations could have been made and also to favour the accused with an acquittal by floating a weak case against them.”

A bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Audikesavalu admitted the petition.