The Kerala High Court on Thursday orally expressed its suspicion that a conspiracy took place to ensure that former Director General of Police Tomin J. Thachankary did not spend even a day in jail after his conviction in a disproportionate assets case. Justice A. Badharudeen orally remarked that Thachankary had "not even seen the cell", and that if the doctors and officials in the jail had given him a grace, "that is a conspiracy in between them, for which an investigation to be ordered".

Source: LiveLaw

The remarks were made while the court was considering Thachankary's plea seeking modification of his bail conditions so that he could go abroad and rejoin his work. When the case came up on Thursday, Thachankary sought to withdraw the plea to go abroad. The court orally said that withdrawal would not end the matter, indicating that it could suo motu order his examination by a medical board to ascertain his illness: "Even if you withdraw, I won't leave you." The court then reserved its verdict in the plea.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press

Earlier in this case

On November 6, the High Court perused the Poojappura Central Jail report it had sought and warned that it may cancel Thachankary's bail, after finding that he had spent his entire period in custody in hospital without a single day in a jail cell. Read the November 6 hearing report

Thachankary was convicted by a trial court in September in a disproportionate assets case and sentenced to four years in prison with a fine of Rs 30.8 lakh, becoming the first retired DGP in Kerala to be sent to prison. The High Court later suspended his sentence, about four weeks after the conviction, and directed that he not leave the country without its permission. He then moved the present plea seeking permission to travel to Dubai for employment.

At the previous hearing, the court had noted that Thachankary was hospitalised for almost a month after being sent to jail, until his sentence was suspended, and it had sought the jail superintendent's report on his hospitalisation to examine whether it was bona fide or, in the court's words, a gimmick to avoid staying inside a cell. On Thursday, the court said it was unconvinced by the argument that breathing difficulties had led to the hospitalisation, indicated it would not allow the matter to end without an inquiry, and recorded that there were anomalies in the arguments advanced by him.

The court's observations on Thursday were oral remarks made during the hearing, and its verdict on the abroad plea is awaited. Senior counsel Raman B. Pillai appeared for Thachankary. Whether a medical board examination or an investigation into the hospitalisation is formally ordered will be known when the court delivers its order.