The Greater Chennai Police on Thursday informed the Madras High Court of having registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and his supporters, R. Vaithilingam and P.H. Manoj Pandian, on August 13 on a complaint accusing them of having stolen cash, property documents and other materials from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) office during the July 11 violence.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar was also told that the Director General of Police (DGP) had on Wednesday transferred the investigation into the three rioting cases, booked in connection with the violence, as well as the theft case, registered at the instance of Member of Parliament C.Ve. Shanmugam, to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) since all four cases were related to the same incident.
Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak produced the FIR copy as well as the DGP’s proceedings when a petition filed by Mr. Shanmugam for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged theft was listed for hearing. Representing the petitioner, advocate M. Mohamed Riyaz said the FIR had been registered only after the filing of the present petition for a CBI probe and only after the court ordered a notice to the police on August 11.
