Suspended IPS officer Amrit Paul, who is in judicial custody at present after his arrest in July 2022 in the police sub-inspector recruitment scam, has moved the High Court of Karnataka complaining that he is under “illegal detention”.
His petition said that he is under “illegal detention” due to the illegality committed by the police in registering and probing the case against him, and for extension of his judicial custody from time to time by the trial courts without following the due process of law.
A vacation Division Bench comprising Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar and Justice Venkatesh T. Naik, before whom the petition came up for hearing, adjourned further hearing on the petition till June 5 while ordering issue of notice to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the scam.
It was contended in the petition that Mr. Paul’s detention is ‘unlawful’ as both the complainant and the investigating officer is the same person. Mr. Paul, who is arraigned as accused number 35 in the chargesheet, has claimed that the trial courts have erred in extending his judicial custody without taking cognisance of offences against him for several months even after filling of chargesheet against him.
“In the absence of valid authority to detain, the petitioner’s remand and detention is illegal and illegally must be set at naught forthwith,” it was contended in the petition seeking an order from the court for his immediate release from prison by staying the orders passed by the trial courts extending his judicial custody.
