THE Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in Southern Metro Manila District has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) Justice to compel the Office of the City Prosecutors of Dasmarinas City in Cavite to comply with the resolution issued by its Office of the Regional Prosecutor-Calabarzon to file illegal possession of firearms and explosive charges against Fil-Indian businessman Amith Chandiramani.
In two-page letter dated September 27, Lt.Col. Stefanio Andrenicus Rabino, chief of the CIDG-Southern Metro Manila District Field Unit cried foul over the delay on the part of the City Prosecution Office of Dasmariñas to comply with the September 8, 2023 resolution issued by the DOJ-Office of the Regional Prosecutor which reversed and modify the August 1, 20223 resolution issued by the former.
The City Prosecution Office of Dasmariñas, in its August 1, 2023 resolution dismissed the complaints filed by the PNP-CID for illegal possession of firearm against Chandiramani with respect to the Colt Carbine 5.56 mm rifle and illegal possession of explosives with regard to the fragmentation grenade allegedly recovered from him during a raid at his residence in Cavite.
The complaint was dismissed for alleged violation of the rules on search and seizure because they failed to present the video clips of their body-worn cameras.
The DOJ-Office of the Regional Prosecutor took cognizance of the motion for reconsideration filed by the PNP-CIDG on August 14, 2023.
On September 8, 2023, Assistant Regional Prosecutor Rogelio Radoc Jr. reversed and modified the August 1 resolution of the Dasmarinas prosecutors and directed the filing of the original complaint for illegal possession of firearms and explosives before the trial court
“Since this Honorable Office directed the immediate filing of additional criminal charges against respondent Amith Chandiramani, it becomes ministerial on the part of the OCP-Dasmarinas to comply with this express directive,” Rabino said in his letter.
“Just recently, we were at the OCP-Dasmarinas to follow-up if it has acted and complied with the Resolution dated September 8, 2023. We were informed that, to date, they have not officially received the copy of the Resolution dated September 8, 2023. We find this claim as incredulous and as a ploy to delay,” he added. Rabino’s letter said.
“Given the mandate to practice close coordination between the Prosecution and Law Enforcement, we ask for the immediate intercession of your Honorable Office to remind and compel the OCP-Dasmarinas to comply, without delay, with the Resolution dated September 8, 2023 and file the necessary criminal charges against the respondent,” it added.
Rabino also expressed concerns on the “perceived partiality” of the Dasmarinas city prosecutors office against the CIDG.
“Our perception of partiality is not without basis, as in fact, the OCP-Dasmarinas resolution dated August 1, 2023 is froth with imputations that the CIDG has committed planting of evidence.
Thus, we have been intently monitoring the progress of the instant case,” the letter further said. Chandiramani was apprehended in June 22 this year by combined elements of the PNP-CIDG, Special Action Force, and the Cavite Provincial Police Office based on two search warrants issued by Tanauan City, Batangas Regional Trial Court Branch 66 Presiding Judge Charito Macalintal-Sawali.
Earlier, Chandiramani has filed a case against his older brother Rajiv and their mother for falsification of public documents alleging that they connived to deprive him of his inheritance from their father, Prem, who died in 2011, amounting to billions of pesos in the form of real estate assets and business interests.
The case is now undergoing preliminary investigation at the DOJ.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has also ordered the transfer to his office of the illegal possession of firearms and drug cases filed by the PNP against Chandiramani for the conduct of cause build-up and preliminary investigation.
