TN Idol Theft Cases: Ex-IPS Officer Pon Manickavel Undertakes Not To Give Media Interviews; Supreme Court Restrains CBI Also

Retired IPS officer Pon Manickavel, who is accused of falsely implicating police officials in Tamil Nadu's Idol Theft cases, undertook before the Supreme Court today that he would not give any interviews to the media about the subject case(s).

At his request, the Court restrained CBI officials/Investigating Officer as well from making any statement against Manickavel in the meantime.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was dealing with CBI's plea seeking surrender of Manickavel's passport and restrain on his giving any interviews to the media.

Senior Advocate S Nagamuthu appeared for Manickavel and submitted that his passport is about to expire. As such, he will apply for issuance of fresh passport and as soon as it's received as renewed, the same will be surrendered. In the meantime, he will not leave India without permission of trial court. 

On the conditions seeking restrain on media interviews, Nagamuthu said that with respect to present case, Manickavel will not make any public statement to press or media (both electronic or print). He requested that the officials be also similarly restrained from making any statement.

Accordingly, the Court passed its order.

To recap, the FIR against Manickavel was lodged at the behest of suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Kader Batcha, who was arrested over alleged collusion in theft of idols from a Pazhavoor temple in 2005.

In August last year, Manickavel was granted anticipatory bail by the Madras High Court, subject to certain conditions. One of the conditions was that he shall appear before CBI daily at 10.30 a.m. for a period of 4 weeks and thereafter, as and when required for interrogation. Another condition was that he shall not tamper with evidence or witness either during investigation or trial.

Allegedly, after appearing before CBI and the interrogation, Manickavel started giving media interviews about how the investigation was being carried out, which according to Batcha, amounted to interference with the investigation and violation of the bail conditions. Aggrieved, Batcha made a representation to CBI.

Recently, the present petition was filed by CBI seeking imposition of 2 more bail conditions on Manickavel, related to impounding of his passport and restrain on media interviews. In May, the top Court issued notice to Manickavel.

Notably, Batcha also filed a petition before the Madras High Court against Manickavel's interviews. In March, Manickavel submitted that since filing of the said petition, he stopped giving interviews to media and would not do so in the future as well. Under Court orders, he also gave an undertaking in writing, after which the petition was disposed of.

Case Title: CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Versus A.G. PONN MANICKAVEL, SLP(Crl) No. 7200/2025