Now time for felicitation
Former Director General of Police W.I.Davaram (second right) presenting a certificate to M. Rajasekaran, Chief Investigating Officer in the Coimbatore bomb blast case, at a function organised by the Former Police Officers’ Association in the city on Saturday. Association president M. Subramaniam (right) and Secretary M.K.Velu (left) are in the picture.The Former Director-General of Police, Walter I Dawaram on Saturday lauded the officers and personnel of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch CID for the laborious and efficient investigations in the Coimbatore Serial Blasts case.He was speaking at a function organised by the Former Police Officers Association for felicitating the members of the SIT for the investigations that led to conviction for a large number of accused.Those honoured on Saturday included those serving officers as well as those who retired during the trial of the case.Mr.Dawaram in his felicitation address said that Coimbatore had been a garden of peace and the communal flare up had damaged the secular and peaceful fabric of the city due to the communal disturbances that reared its ugly head in the last ten to 15 years.The communal disturbances ultimately ended in the serial blasts that ravaged the textile and industrial city.
The case is a historic one in the entire country because of the large number of accused, evidences and witnesses involved in the investigation.The laborious work involved in the investigations made it a himalayan task for the Special Investigation Team (SIT), he pointed out.He said that the officers, men and the prosecutors involved in the investigations actually deserved appreciation.The case could be cited as a model investigation.The presiding officer of the Special Court should be acknowledged for the good work in terms of the smooth trial completed in a record time despite the case involving voluminous records and number of accused and witnesses.
He pointed out that investigation in one murder case involved difficult tasks in gathering evidence and identifying the witnesses and preparing them to depose before the court.Whereas, the Serial Blasts case was a consolidated case of 41 incidents (First Information Reports) pointing fingers at 166 accused. The case involved at least 2,300 witnesses and hundreds of evidences and material exhibits and objects, which the SIT had performed with absolute perfection thus leading to a majority of 158 of the 166 accused getting convicted.The investigations leading to convictions had in fact taken the image of the Tamil Nadu police to a very high extent, thus proving the efficiency of the Tamil Nadu police. Policemen in khaki have no caste or creed and should be unbiased giving no room for complaints of bias or partisan attitude.
The former DGP Mr.Dawaram along with the President and Secretary of the Former Police Officers Association, M. Subramaniam and N.K. Velu handed over mementos and certificate of appreciation to the SIT team.The honoured SIT officials both serving and retired included: the present Special Officer and former Chief Investigating Officer, M. Rajasekharan, Additional Superintendent of Police, R. Sundarrajan, Deputy Superintendents of Police, K. Rathinasamy, N. Rajamanickam and others.More than 25 SIT officials and personnel were honoured on the occasion.
