The Madras High Court on Wednesday permitted M.S. Jaffar Sait, Director General of Police (DGP), Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department, to withdraw a petition filed by him in 2016, to quash a case booked against him by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 2011.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira dismissed the petition as withdrawn since the State government did not raise any objection to his plea. The DGP decided to withdraw the 2016 petition since the High Court last month quashed the criminal case while allowing a fresh petition to be filed by him.

Mr. Sait had rushed to the High Court during the summer vacation sitting last month with a fresh petition for getting the case quashed since his name was under consideration for being appointed as DGP (Law and Order) pursuant to the scheduled retirement of the incumbent T.K. Rajendran on June 30. Justice P. Rajamanickam heard his plea on merits and quashed the DVAC case on the ground that the Union Home Ministry had refused to grant sanction for prosecution back in 2013 and yet the case was pending for nearly six years. He pointed out that prior sanction was a sine qua non for launching a prosecution against an Indian Police Service officer. Though it was brought to the notice of the judge that a similar quash petition filed in 2016 was still pending in the court, the judge recorded the petitioner’s submission that he had already filed a memo to withdraw it and left the issue to be decided by the portfolio judge concerned after the court reopened.

The case booked against the officer related to alleged loss caused to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board while getting a residential plot in the name of petitioner’s wife.

However, the petitioner refuted the allegation of having had any pecuniary advantage due to the purchase of the property and claimed that his family had lost ₹34 lakh due to payment of enhanced price for the plot which his wife was willing to return to TNHB.