Former Minister in the AIADMK government, M Manikandan was arrested on Sunday in Bengaluru in a case of sexual abuse of an actress, who also holds Malaysian citizenship.
Manikandan, who was Information Technology Minister in the AIADMK regime was arrested in the Karnataka capital by special teams tasked to arrest him in the case, police said. The police brought him to Chennai following his arrest and after questioning, produced him before a court which remanded him to judicial custody till July 2.
He was later lodged in a prison in Chennai. Days ago the Madras High Court had rejected his plea for anticipatory bail. In her complaint to police on May 28 against Manikandan, the woman had alleged that he promised to marry him after divorcing his wife and based on that, she was in a live-in relationship with him for the past about five years.
The former Minister forcibly had sexual intercourse with her several times and compelled her to carry out abortions thrice and when she requested him to marry her, he assaulted her, she had alleged. Also, he continued to threaten her, saying he would post her nude photographs in social media and sought action against him, a police release said.
Subsequently, police registered a case against him while he moved the High Court seeking advance bail. On June 16, the Madras High Court had refused to grant him the relief he sought. Dismissing the plea, it pointed to the gravity of the alleged offences and the personality involved and said while the probe is in a preliminary stage, there is no merit in the petition seeking anticipatory bail.
The alleged offences (sections 376-rape and 313 IPC causing miscarriage) are serious in nature and when the accused wields a wide influence, the custodial and effective interrogation of the accused is of tremendous advantage in getting information and also materials which would have been concealed, the court had said.