A man in judicial custody since January 4 in connection with a false habeas corpus petition is refusing to move a bail application, despite several advocates volunteering to appear on his behalf.
A man in judicial custody since January 4 in connection with a false habeas corpus petition is refusing to move a bail application, despite several advocates volunteering to appear on his behalf.
Police sources said the man, Chandra Pandian, 33, feared for his life, since his arrest and subsequent interrogation had revealed the involvement of three advocates in a false case.
The advocates nursed a grudge against a police informer and the railway police, making the lawyers to force Pandian to impersonate as a cable TV operator, Ilayaraja, and file the plea.
The petition stated that Ilayaraja’s brother Dhanpal had been picked up from his Trichy house by the railway police and that the Cantonment police inspector had detained him illegally.
The plea also said Dhanpal had been missing ever since his arrest.
The high court took up the petition. Mahadeva, supposedly the counsel for the petitioner, initially failed to turn up in the court. He later appeared, but the court found his statement suspicious, and on July 16 last year, summoned Ilayaraja.
Police found Ilayaraja at his Trichy residence. Ilayaraja denied filing any petition. Mahadeva intervened, saying another person, not Ilayaraja, was his client. He also produced a photograph of his client.
The court asked the police to find the man in the photograph. The police found Pandian in Trichy and produced him before the court.
Pandian submitted that he was threatened into signing the petition by three advocates, Mahadev of Bangalore, and Bhaskar and Raghu of Tamil Nadu. The advocates threatened to trap him in a narcotics case. He was offered money and a job in Bangalore.
Sources in the railway police said that they had arrested a member of the notorious Ramji Nagar gang, Dhanashekar, while he was stealing a laptop from a train passenger.
The Trichy-based gang was represented by one of the advocates, Bhaskar.
Bhaskar wanted the police to free Dhanashekar. However, the police were tipped-off by an informer that the arrested man was involved in several other offences.
Further investigation led to the recovery of stolen properties worth lakhs of rupees.
Bhaskar, however, was unimpressed. He suspected that Dhanpal had informed the police of the gang. He, along with his advocate friends, made Pandian to file the habeas corpus petition by impersonating as Ilayaraja, saying Dhanpal had been missing.
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