TN woman SP seeks court-monitored probe into sexual harassment case

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Chennai: A woman police superintendent, who had accused an Inspector General rank officer of sexual harassment, Wednesday filed a fresh petition in the Madras High Court seeking a court-monitored probe by an agency not under the control of the Tamil Nadu government.

She alleged that since IG S Murugan of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had submitted closure reports on corruption charges against Chief Minister K Palaniswami and was also looking into graft complaints against Deputy CM O Panneerselvam, they would certainly help the senior officer in the sexual harassment case. The petitioner sought to implead Palaniswami and Pannerselvam as respondents.

"The chief minister and deputy chief minister are obviously interested in safeguarding the interest of Joint Director Murugan as he has filed a favourable closure report on the complaint against the CM, and he is investigating the complaint against the deputy CM," she alleged.

Meanwhile, a division bench comprising Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice PD Audikesavalu extended till March 6 the status quo on all the proceedings, including the CB-CID probe and an inquiry by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), against Murugan in connection with the sexual harassment complaint. Counsel for the woman officer submitted that she also opposed the appointment of DGP-rank officer Sri Lakshmi Prasad as the presiding officer of the ICC and the investigation by the CB-CID.

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