The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday quashed the entire criminal proceedings initiated against former Minister K.J. George and senior IPS officers A.M. Prasad and Pronab Mohanty for allegedly abetting Deputy Superintendent of Police M.K Ganapathy to commit suicide in July 2016.
Justice John Michael Cunha passed the order while allowing the petitions filed by Mr. George, Mr. Prasad and Mr. Mohanty. They had questioned the legality of the August 28, 2020 order passed by the special court taking cognisance of offence of abetting suicide against them by rejecting the closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“Since the material on record does not prima facie disclose commission of offence by the petitioners, the action initiated against the petitioners/accused being wholly illegal, perverse and amounting to abuse of process of court, deserves to be quashed,” the High Court observed.
“It is evident that the deceased [Ganapathy] suffered mental torture for not getting executive posting of his liking and not on account of harassment by accused as held by the special court,” the High Court said on analysing statements of witnesses, including his wife, father and others.
The High Court termed “nothing but perverse and ignoring the obvious” the observation made by the special court that there is no prima facie case to show that the deceased was suffering from any mental depression.
Last TV interview
“I have gone through the entire transcript [of Ganapthy’s interview on a television channel before death]. I do not find anything therein which would prima facie disclose the elements of instigation or abetment by any one of the accused constituting the ingredients of the offence under section 306 of IPC,” observed Justice Cunha.
“The findings and the observations made by the learned Special Judge in the impugned order are perverse to the core as no prudent person could arrive at the conclusion based on the material on record that the petitioners/accused were instrumental in driving the deceased to commit suicide. The evidence collected by the investigating agency, even if accepted in its entirety, does not disclose mens rea or instigation or conspiracy by the petitioners making out the ingredients of the offence under section 306 r/w 34 of IPC,” the High Court said.
The High Court also held that “in the absence of any material to make out the ingredients of the above offence, there was absolutely no reason or justification for the special court to reject the well-founded report filed by CBI and to take cognizance of the alleged offence and issue summons to the petitioners.”
The statements, which are duly supported by medical records “clinchingly point out that the deceased was suffering from neurotic disorder, loss of memory and depression. Even laymen who came in contact with him have observed the abnormal behaviour of the deceased,” the High Court observed.