Kochi, 04 September (H.S.): The Madras High Court has sought an explanation from the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police over the retention period of CCTV footage at police stations, after it emerged that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC) office in Coimbatore preserves recordings for only 15 days.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan directed the DGP to submit a report by September 10 clarifying whether CCTV recordings from cameras installed inside police stations across the State are being preserved for the mandated period of 18 months.

The court observed that retaining CCTV footage for anything less than 18 months would violate directions previously issued by the Supreme Court as well as a Division Bench of the Madras High Court.

The issue came to the court's attention after senior counsel R. Shunmugasundaram, assisted by advocate Shakeena Abdul Gafoor, pointed out that an Additional Superintendent of Police attached to the V&AC in Coimbatore had stated in an affidavit that the office's digital video recorder could store footage for only 15 days.

The counsel cited the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling in the Paramvir Singh Saini versus Baljit Singh case and a 2024 Madras High Court order, under which police authorities had undertaken to preserve CCTV recordings for 18 months.

The matter arose from a petition filed by A. Saravanakumar, a Sub-Inspector attached to the Civil Supplies-CID in Salem, who faces allegations of demanding a bribe from a person booked for allegedly transporting 1,250 kg of Public Distribution System rice in a private van.

Saravanakumar sought preservation of CCTV footage from the Coimbatore V&AC office between September 15 and October 15, 2025, contending that it could help establish that the corruption complaint against him was false.

The V&AC, however, informed the court that the requested footage was unavailable because its recording system automatically retains data for only 15 days.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman