A group of police personnel who have been working in the Idol Wing of the CB-CID with retired Inspector General of Police A.G. Ponn Manickavel — now a court-appointed special officer — have refused to work with him, raising a series of allegations of harassment and intimidation by the officer.
On Tuesday, 13 police officers including an Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) represented to DGP T.K. Rajendran for transfer, expressing dissatisfaction over Mr. Manickavel’s style of functioning.
On Wednesday, 12 officers including ADSPs Ilango and Kumar addressed the media before giving representations to the DGP.
Mr. Ilango said: “In the last one year, we were not allowed to function freely. In 333 cases which were entrusted by the court, no accused has been arrested. No stolen idol was detected. Many idols are still in the foreign soil. An Australian official came here and had given a statement to the court that they would return the idols once we provide sufficient proof that they were stolen properties from temples here. This team has been formed to find out the temple/ place where the idols were stolen from. But no effort has been taken to trace the temple/ place so far.”
Under pressure
“We were appointed as a special team by the court. He [Mr. Manickavel] told us that no investigation officer should act without his approval or proceed with investigation independently. We were not able to perform wholeheartedly. Otherwise, we could have performed better,” said the ADSP.
Mr. Ilango said, “He would fix the accused and then decide the line of investigation. We had to follow what he said.” The officers claimed there were compulsions from Mr. Manickavel due to which some of them were not able to work and went on medical leave. They became deserters, the officers said. ADSP Kumar was an investigation officer in the case relating to the theft of idols from Pasupatheeswarar temple, Pandanallur in Thanjavaur district. He said he went on medical leave for a year since he was not able to continue working.
ADSP Kumar said, “Mr. Manickavel told me to remand the Joint Commissioner of the HR&CE. I told him that I couldn’t. He threatened me that I would be suspended or that he would file an adverse report on me. After doing so under duress, I went on medical leave for one year.”
The officers also left the place hoping their plea for transfer would be considered by the DGP.