Thursday, March 10 2005 20:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Extending the time for completing the probe into the October last killing of forest brigand Veerappan in a police encounter, the Madras High Court today (March 10, 2005) directed the Dharmapuri Revenue Division Officer (RDO) to complete the inquiry by March 31.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice M Karpagavinayagam and Justice C Nagappan, however, did not concede a Government prayer to stay a single judge's order, directing the police to take on file a complaint by the outlaw's widow Muthulakshmi, who alleged that her husband was done away by the police.

Justice K P Sivasubramanian on Feb 7, 2005 had directed the RDO to complete the investigation within one month and to thereafter take Muthulakshmi's complaint on file.

When the Government's appeal against the single Judge's order came up for hearing, the Bench observed that March 3, 2005 was the last date for completing the inquiry and said that the disobedience could be viewed as contempt of court.

The Judges extended the time for completing the inquiry on a request from the State additional advocate general Somayaji and posted the appeal for hearing on March 31.

According to the police, the outlaw and three of his gang were shot dead in Satyamangalam forest area on October 18 last when they refused to surrender after being surrounded and tried to escape.

Muthulakshmi had sought a CBI probe alleging that she could not expect an impartial inquiry by the RDO as the State Government had honoured the Special Task Force (STF) personnel for killing her husband.