Suspended police officer walks free in info leak case

  • | Saturday | 25th February, 2017

"Shankar, a suspended special assistant in the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC), was booked for allegedly leaking confidential information from the DVAC. The prosecution said Shankar had "diminished the value" of a confidential recording.Police then registered a case against him under the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The XVII additional sessions judge S Purushothaman, however, said the prosecution was unable to prove the charges against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. He downloaded a classified taped conversation and leaked the it to an English daily and two Tamil TV channels. During the trial, the prosecution submitted 120 documents and testimonies of 45 witnesses.

Chennai: A Shankar alias 'savukku' Shankar, walked away a free man on Friday after being exempted of all charges in a case of leaking a classified conversation.Shankar's website, Savukku.net, which he had been operating since 2009, was blocked by a Madras high court order in 2014 "for being vituperative and tarnishing reputation of many people, including judges and police officers."Shankar, a suspended special assistant in the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC), was booked for allegedly leaking confidential information from the DVAC. Police said he had had reportedly leaked a phone conversation between top officials — then chief secretary S K Upadhyay and DVAC director L K Tripathy — about registering a corruption case against former chief minister J Jayalalthaa, for the 800-acre Kodanad tea estate, worth several hundred crore, in which she had a stake.The case was registered on the allegation that Shankar had illegally accessed the computer of the legal advisor of the DVAC twice in April, 2008. He downloaded a classified taped conversation and leaked the it to an English daily and two Tamil TV channels. The prosecution said Shankar had "diminished the value" of a confidential recording.Police then registered a case against him under the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000. During the trial, the prosecution submitted 120 documents and testimonies of 45 witnesses. The XVII additional sessions judge S Purushothaman, however, said the prosecution was unable to prove the charges against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

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