Kerala High Court today came down heavily on the state government in a case relating to Salim Raj, former gunman of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, and wondered why senior police officers, including the DGP, were afraid of the police constable.
The Station House Officer, DIG and DGP had forwarded to the Chief Minister's Office a complaint against Raj by one Shariffa and Premchand Nair regarding a land deal.
Justice Harun-Al Rashid asked the government whether the senior police officers were afraid of Raj.
'We have never seen a DGP forward a complaint to Chief Minister's office. DGP and all police officers are afraid of this constable', the court orally observed.
'The police constable was getting full protection from the government. What kind of democracy is functioning in the state?' the judge asked.
'Who is controlling the state?. Is it mafia which is controlling the state?', the court asked.
The Judge made the remarks during the hearing of a petition by Shariffa and Nair seeking an investigation by a special team or the CBI into alleged usurping of about 1.16 acres of land at Kalamassery here and 45.5 acres in Thiruvananthapuram by Raj.
The case has been posted to Oct 9.
Earlier, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K Vinodchandran had on Aug 6 stayed a single judge's order for seizure of telephone records of Raj.
