The AP High Court on Wednesday directed the Registrar of the High Court to initiate suo motu criminal contempt proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act against the director general of police, Mr V. Dinesh Reddy, and the additional director general of police, CID, Mr S.V. Ramana Murthy, for suppression of facts and for filing false affidavit.
While disposing of a plea by the Godavari Valley Development Authority Umesh Kumar against the DGP, Justice Ramesh Ranganathan held that “if either the petitioner or the respondents suppress material facts or state material facts in a distorted manner in order to mislead the court, the court is duty bound to protect itself and prevent abuse of its process”.
Mr Dinesh Kumar had alleged that a case against him for his alleged involvement in forging a letter in the name of Congress MP M.A. Khan, to spoil the prospects of Mr Dinesh Reddy to become the DGP, was registered and pursued at the behest of the DGP. When the Judge sought a counter-affidavit on this, the DGP and head of the CID had filed affidavits contrary to the record.
The CID chief had not disclosed in his affidavit about a memo issued by the DGP to register a case against Mr Dinesh Kumar. The chief secretary had forwarded a letter from the ministry of home affairs regarding the alleged forg-ed letter to the CID chief and had asked him to inquire into it. The CID chief, however, had forwarded the report to the DGP on August 22, 2011. These facts were not disclosed by the DGP in his affidavit. After pursuing the records, the Judge found a memo issued by the DGP on August 24, 2011, wherein he had directed the CID chief to register a case pertaining to the forged letter episode. He also found that the DGP had forwarded the report of the CID chief to the chief secretary on August 27, three days after registering the case.
The Judge held that the false affidavit filed by Mr Ramana Murthy, and suppression of material facts by Mr Dinesh Reddy and Mr Murthy, constituted criminal contempt of court