The Kerala High Court on Monday orally questioned a plea by former Director General of Police Tomin J. Thachankary seeking permission to go abroad to rejoin his work, pointing to an apparent contradiction between his health claims in jail and his wish to travel overseas for employment.
Source: Live Law
Hearing the matter, Justice A. Badharudeen orally observed that Thachankary had said he was a seriously ill patient while in jail, but after his release he wanted to go abroad, to the US or Saudi Arabia, and asked how the two positions could be justified. The judge also remarked that granting such reliefs could undermine public faith in the judiciary. These were oral observations during the hearing, not a final order on the plea.
The court directed the Superintendent of Poojappura Central Jail, where Thachankary had been lodged, to submit a report on his hospitalisation during his custody — including the number of days he was admitted to the jail hospital, the diseases for which he was treated, and how many days he was not in hospital — so that his request to go abroad could be assessed on the facts. Thachankary had spent around four weeks in jail before his sentence was suspended.
Source: Bar and Bench
Thachankary has sought a modification of the conditions imposed by the High Court on October 15, when it suspended the sentence awarded to him by the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance), Kottayam, in a disproportionate assets case and enlarged him on bail. One of those conditions was that he must not leave India without the court's permission.
The Kottayam vigilance court had convicted him under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and sentenced him to four years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30.84 lakh. The trial court found that he had amassed assets worth Rs 30.84 lakh disproportionate to his known sources of income — 52.33 per cent of his known income — during the check period between 2003 and 2007.
In his plea, Thachankary has stated that he has been employed in the UAE for the past three years since his retirement and has to rejoin his work, that he has deposited 75 per cent of the fine, and that he attended 66 sittings during the trial and never misused his liberty — contentions he has put before the court in support of his request. The case has been posted to November 6 for further consideration.