Chennai, July 22 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Tuesday questioned the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) over its delay in summoning suspended Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP) H.M. Jayaram in connection with an alleged kidnapping case.

Justice G. Jayachandran raised the query while hearing the bail pleas of three accused – V. Vanaraja, P. Manikandan, and M. Ganesan – who were arrested by the Tiruvalangadu police in Tiruvallur district and remanded to judicial custody on June 9.

During the hearing, Additional Advocate General (AAG) J. Ravindran, assisted by Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) R. Muniyapparaj, informed the court that the CB-CID, which took over the investigation, had summoned the suspended ADGP for questioning on July 24.

The AAG assured the court that the probe was progressing in the right direction. Recording the submission, Justice Jayachandran directed the current investigating officer to produce the case diary for the court’s perusal.

The judge stated that orders on the bail applications would be passed after examining the records and assessing the progress of the investigation.

The high-profile case took a dramatic turn on June 16, when APP A. Damodaran made a shocking disclosure before Justice P. Velmurugan, revealing the suspected involvement of the senior IPS officer and Kilvaithinakuppam (Reserved) MLA ‘Poovai’ M. Jagan Moorthy of the Puratchi Bharatham party.

According to the prosecution, the case stemmed from an inter-caste marriage between a young man from Tiruvallur and a woman from Theni in May 2025.

Unhappy with the union, the woman’s father, Vanaraja, allegedly sought the help of the MLA and the ADGP, through intermediaries, to locate the groom.

On June 7, a gang reportedly broke into the groom’s residence at Kalambakkam village in Tiruvallur. Finding the groom absent, they abducted his 18-year-old younger brother, who was asleep on the terrace. Their mother promptly filed a police complaint.

During the ensuing investigation, APP Damodaran claimed that the abducted teenager was shifted to the ADGP’s official vehicle to bypass police checks and was later released at a local bus stand.

Following these revelations, the Supreme Court transferred the investigation to the CB-CID. The case has since attracted significant public attention, given the alleged involvement of senior officials and an elected representative.

–IANS

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