CHENNAI, MARCH 4: The Special Court has directed that the coal case against former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha be kept in cold storage.``Till further investigation is completed under Section 173(8) Cr PC and a final report filed under Section 173(2) Cr PC, the proceedings are adjourned,'' V Radhakrishnan, Judge, Special Court-II, said. The judge was passing orders on Tuesday on an application from Jayalalitha seeking to adjourn hearing in the case to a later date.The question is whether the court should proceed with the trial without awaiting the police report that may be filed after completion of the investigation or not. ``In my view, the same will lead to unnecessary complication resulting in failure of justice,'' the judge said.Investigation should come to an end at one stage or the other and the final charge-sheet should be submitted.For example, if the court proceeds and examines the witnesses cited in the charge-sheet already filed without waiting for the outcome of further investigationand another charge-sheet is filed after completing further investigation, which may take several years, it will lead to inordinate delay.If it is a police report, fresh cognizance has to be taken and witnesses already examined have to be recalled for examination and additional witnesses have to be examined. After furnishing copies of the oral and documentary evidence gathered during further investigation to the accused, again both sides will have to be heard on the question of framing charges or discharge and the court will be back to square one, the judge pointed out.The contentions of the petitioner that she was handicapped in putting forth arguments for discharge in the absence of further evidence and further report that may be filed, is sound and reasonable.In this case, the investigating officer's request to conduct further investigation was accepted and a letter rogatory was issued.Subsequently, the court granted adjournments for completing the investigation in foreign countries.However,this cannot be done overnight or within a short period. The Investigating agency should be given reasonable time for completing the investigation outside the country.The Special Public Prosecutor urged that trial involving public persons should be conducted expeditiously, preferably in three months, and there should be speedy trial in corruption cases. Justice delayed may be justice denied, but justice hurried is justice buried, the judge said.Whether investigation is yet to be completed and material evidence yet to be gathered, which may either support the accused or the prosecution, there may not be any justification for the court to proceed with the trial. Filing of a final report is a must for proceeding further in the case.``Under these circumstances, I hold that the proceedings in this case should be adjourned, in other words, to be kept in cold storage,'' the judge said.However, he rejected Jayalalitha's plea to entrust further investigation to another investigating officer.
