Three years after a complaint by a Navy officer’s wife about regular wife-swapping parties organised by Navy officials in Kochi, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed a time-bound special investigation team (SIT) probe into the scandal. The SIT will be headed by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Kerala Police and complete the probe within three months.
The victim, who alleged sexual abuse by five Navy officers and a wife of an officer, had filed the complaint in 2013 at the Harbour Police Station in Kochi. The complaint named her husband lt Ravi Kiran Kabdula, lt Ishwar Chand Vidyasagar, Captain Ashok K Aukta, his wife Preena Aukta, and two other officers, Anand Balakrishnan and Ajay Jaykrishnan.
The complaint alleged that when her husband was posted in Kochi, he took her to a wife-swapping party, a regular event among several Navy officers and their wives. The victim alleged she was sexually abused in the party, and was beaten up and tortured when she refused to go there again.
In her petition, she demanded the transfer of the investigation to the CBI as she was being harassed and threatened by her husband who has influence in the police department. She further demanded that the petitions of the accused to quash the complaint against them should be transferred from the Kerala High Court to Delhi.
The Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices R Banumathi and UU lalit felt that a case for transferring investigation to the CBI was not made out. Even the Kerala Government opposed this prayer claiming that the investigation had been stalled on account of the proceedings before the Supreme Court. Till date, the Kerala Police claimed to have examined 71 witnesses, including the victim, and had even conducted her medical test.
The SC said, “The petitioner has only alleged that the accused are naval officers and are influential. Mere apprehension that the accused are influential may not be sufficient to transfer the case.” Moreover, the court noted that a special team of the Kerala Police was already constituted on June 14, 2013 to probe the case.
The accused officers are also facing a Board of Inquiry by the Navy. The victim’s husband was refused anticipatory bail by the Kerala High Court.