VILLUPURAM: Irked by the non-appearance of the suspended
DGP Rajesh Das
, who is facing a sexual harassment trial initiated by a woman IPS officer, a
Villupuram
court said it would issue an arrest warrant against him if he fails to appear before it.
The Villupuram
chief judicial magistrate
,
S Gopinathan
, directed the suspended DGP to appear in
court
on November 1, after rejecting an application filed by the latter's counsel seeking exemption from personal appearance. However, a superintendent of police-rank officer, D Kannan, who was accused of attempting to prevent the woman IPS officer from lodging a complaint against the then special DGP, however, appeared before the court on Friday.
The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the Villupuram CJM to complete the trial within three months. The high court passed the direction while turning down a plea by Rajesh Das to transfer the trial out of Villupuram CJM.
The CB-CID police are probing the sexual harassment case initiated by the woman IPS officer against Rajesh Das, who special DGP at that time, for allegedly harassing her during a chief minister's programme in Pudukottai in March this year.
The victim-woman officer lodged a separate complaint to the then DGP JK Tripathy and demanded legal action against the two officers - DGP Rajesh Das for harassment, and the suspended SP Kannan for having tried to stop her from proceeding to Chennai and lodge a complaint with the head of police force. The CB-CID filed a 400-page chargesheet in the court on July 29.