IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.RAMKUMAR FRIDAY, THE 11TH JANUARY 2008 / 21ST POUSHA 1929 WP(C).No. 36710 of 2007(T) -------------------------------- CRIME NO. 111/2007 of KADINAMKULAM POLICE STATION PETITIONER: ------------ AMBROSE JOSEPH, PUSHPA VILAS, SOUTH THUMBA, VALIA VELI, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-21. BY ADV. SRI.SUMAN CHAKRAVARTHY RESPONDENTS: ------------- 1. THE STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY, HOME DEPT., GOVT. SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE KERALA, PHQ, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 3. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE CBCID, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 4. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CITY. 5. THE CIRCLE INSPECTOR OF POLICE, KAZHAKOOTAM PS. 6. THE SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE, KADINAMKULAM PS. BY ADV. SRI. K.S. SIVAKUMAR, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 11/01/2008, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: V. RAMKUMAR , J. ========================== W.P.(C). No. 36710 of 2007 ========================== Dated this the 11th day of January, 2008. JUDGMENT In this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner who is the brother of deceased Dominic, seeks a direction to transfer the investigation of crime No. 111/2007 of Kadinamkulam Police Station. to the 3rd respondent, Superintendent of Police, CBCID, Thiruvananthapuram or any other competent independent investigating agency for proper, effective and expeditious investigation regarding the cause of death of Dominic, the brother of the petitioner. 2. The body of Dominic aged 49 years who was the brother of the petitioner was found in his residence on 07.08.2007 at 7 a.m. There are rival versions regarding the stage of the body when it was first found. According to the daughter of Dominic the body was found hanging in the bedroom. But going by the version of the son of Dominic the body was lying on a cot. There appears to be some attempt on the part of the inmates of the house to stifle the truth. Whatever that may be, the dead body of Dominic was hurriedly buried on 07.08.2007 itself. Even though it was evidently a case of unnatural death, nobody seem to have informed the police and the burial was W.P.(C) NO. 36710/2007 : 2 : conducted on the same day without the police being informed. It was long thereafter on 23.08.2007 that the sister of the deceased lodged a complaint before the Kadinamkulam Police which registered the aforesaid crime under the caption “unnatural death” under Section 174 Cr.P.C. On a complaint lodged by the petitioner before the RDO, Thiruvananthapuram, the dead body of Dominic was exhumed and subjected to autopsy. Ext.P2 is the postmortem certificate wherein there were two injuries on the back of the head and the opinion as to the cause of death also was that the death was due to head injury. According to the petitioner, the investigation by the local police has been tardy and the petitioner suspects that the death of Dominic was homicidal and he also suspects the influence of the culprits behind the slow pace in the investigation and hence this writ petition for transferring the investigation to crime branch. 3. The learned Public Prosecutor in charge of the case submitted that there has been no lethargy on the part of the investigating agency in proceeding with the investigation and that the inmates of the house namely the son, daughter and son-in-law of the deceased are being subjected to polygraph test to ascertain whether the statement given by them reflect the true story behind the death of Dominic. W.P.(C) NO. 36710/2007 : 3 : 4. Even though the investigation had commenced on 23.08.2007, so far, no tangible progress has been shown in the investigation and the theory of suicide which the inmates of the house wanted the rest of the world to accept, prima facie, does not appear to be true in view of the postmortem findings. Such being the position, the investigation should be entrusted in the hands of a team which is better equipped to unravel the real truth behind the death of Dominic. Hence, without making any observations regarding the investigation thus far conducted by the local police, I direct the investigation to be entrusted with the 3rd respondent, the Superintendent of Police, CBCID, Thiruvananthapuram. The 3rd respondent shall immediately constitute a team of competent officers and continue the investigation and file a final report before the court concerned expeditiously after exploring all possibilities in the matter. V. RAMKUMAR, JUDGE. rv W.P.(C) NO. 36710/2007 : 4 :