The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of fair and impartial investigation in criminal cases, as guaranteed by constitutional rights under Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

1. This Criminal Original Petition is filed, seeking direction upon respondents 1 and 2 to withdraw the case in Cr.No.391 of 2014, from the file of the third respondent and to transfer the same to the fourth respondent, for fair and de novo investigation.

2. The petitioner is the mother of the deceased/Navaneethakrishnan, who was working as Horticulture Officer at Pennagaram. The said Navaneethakrishnan was nominated for international training for nursery management from 17.07.2012 to 31.07.2012, at CINADO Training Centre, Israel. Thereafter, he was transferred to the Office of the Deputy Director of Horticulture, Dharmapuri. Later, he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Director of Horticulture, Pennagaram Block, Dharmapuri. The deceased was on special duty as Project Manager for Indo-Israel Project on Centre of Excellence for Cut-flowers (CEC project site) at Thally Block, Krishnagiri District, from July, 2013. He was an honest Officer. On 11.12.2014, around 10.30 a.m., her family received a phone call from the Joint Director of Horticulture, Krishnagiri District, to the effect that her son was found missing from aforesaid site and his mobile phone was switched off. Immediately, the petitioner contacted all her relatives and his friends to find out his whereabouts. But her efforts ended in futile. Therefore, on 11.12.2014, husband of the petitioner lodged a complaint before the third respondent/Police about the missing of his son/ Navaneethakrishnan, pursuant to which, a case was registered in Crime No.391 of 2014, under the caption “Man Missing”.

3. The case of the petitioner, as stated in the Petition, in short, is that no proper investigation was done by the third respondent/Police and even though, the third respondent/Police had all clues with themselves, they did not investigate the case in a proper direction. On 15.12.2014, at about 4.00 p.m., Police Officer noted a foul smell emanating from the unused septic tank at the Horticulture Training Centre, Thally, and on opening the lid of the septic Tank, they found a decomposed dead body of Navaneethakrishnan. Thereafter, on 17.12.2014, the third respondent/Police arrested one Nagaraj, who was employed as Watchman in the CEC project site, and on his confession, his stepson Muniraj was identified and they were arrayed as accused Nos.1 and 2 respectively.

4. According to the petitioner, the said Nagaraj and Muniraj might have acted for and behalf of some other political bigwigs and higher authorities in the Horticulture Department, and there was no reason for the said two persons to murder her son. According to the petitioner, the higher Officials in the Horticulture Department, who are known for corruption charges have joined hands with the local political people and conspired to eliminate the petitioner's son/Navaneethakrishnan, who attempted to expose their illegal activities. As a matter of fact, the first accused/Nagaraj mentioned about the involvement of one C. Kumar, Assistant Agricultural Officer in the said Thally Block site, at whose instance, the murder was committed, and stated that, he was made as a scapegoat.

5. The petitioner further stated that the Police Officials at the influence of higher officials and instructions got from the other political bigwigs, did not interrogate C. Kumar, properly. Other officers viz., ii) Chidambaram, ii) Srinivasan, who are Assistant Directors of Horticulture, Hosur Block, and iii) Venkattta Rajendra Reddy, Assistant Director of Horticulture, Kelamangala Block, were also not properly interrogated by the Police. Had they been properly interrogated, involvement of other persons in the participation of crime would have come to light. According to the petitioner, the aforesaid four persons, viz., i) C. Kumar, ii) Chidambaram, iii) Srinivasan, and iv) Venkattta rajendra Reddy, entered into a conspiracy to eliminate Navaneethakrishnan, apprehending that he would expose their corrupt practices, to the Manager, during