Madras HC grants pre-arrest bail to former Tamil Nadu Minister P Palaniappan

The Madras High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former Tamil Nadu Minister P Palaniappan, who feared arrest in connection with the alleged suicide of a government contractor in Namakkal in May.

Justice P N Prakash ordered Palaniappan, a loyalist of the sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, to appear before the CB-CID Inspector of Police in Namakkal for two weeks at 10.30 AM daily, and thereafter as and when required.

Palaniappan is among the 18 MLAs disqualified by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal on Monday under the anti- defection law. They were staying at a resort in Karnataka.

He moved the court seeking anticipatory bail stating that he feared the state government was putting pressure on the police to arrest him as he was not supporting it.

Palaniappan submitted to the court he had been questioned by the police on July 22 and answered all the questions put to him in connection with the death of contractor K R Subramanian.

The contractor allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide after his house was raided by Income Tax sleuths on April 7 as part of their investigation against state Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar.

In his suicide note, Subramanian had allegedly said that Palaniappan was "instrumental" in getting government contracts to a rival contractor.

Palaniappan also submitted that even the deceased's close relatives such as his wife and son had not mentioned his name during the investigation.