The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a Madras High Court order refusing to restrain the Shulurmattam police in the Nilgiris district from conducting further investigation into the Kodanad estate heist-cum-murder case of 2017.
A Bench, led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, dismissed the petition filed by prosecution witness ‘Anubhav’ Ravi alias N. Ravi of the AIADMK’s Amma Makkal Peravai in Coimbatore against the conduct of further investigation.
In August, the High Court found the police fully empowered to conduct further investigation under Section 173(8) of the CrPC even after the filing of the chargesheet and the commencement of the trial.
Such power to conduct further investigation at any stage of a criminal case cannot be “doubted, objected or found fault with”, it concluded.
The High Court said it was imperative to have a “proper, fair, impartial and an effective investigation”.
Another Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Vineet Saran, refused bail to two police officers accused in the case of the custodial deaths of a father-son duo, P. Jayaraj and J. Bennicks, in Sattankulam.
The court rejected the bail pleas of S. Sridhar and P. Raghu Ganesh with a terse comment: “Not at this stage.”
