Madras High Court today dismissed as ‘infructuous’ a habeas corpus petition for missing film producer Madhan, allegedly involved in a multi-crore medical admission scam, after it was informed that he had been recently traced and arrested by the city police.
A bench comprising justices M Jaichandren and S Baskaran passed the order afer perusing the status report filed by the police and submissions made by Additional Public Prosecutor V M R Raajendran that Madhan had been arrested, produced before a magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody on November 21.
The petition was filed by the mother of Madhan, who was reportedly missing sinceMay 28 when he had left Chennai.
He had left behind a ‘suicide note’ stating that he would kill himself in Varanasi due to alleged failure in ‘business transaction’ with the SRM group of institutions, it was claimed.
Some parents and students had filed criminal petitions in the high court alleging that they have paid huge amounts to Madhan for getting medical seats in the SRM institutions but neither the seats were given nor the money returned and sought action against him.
The bench orally observed that Madhan had been detained recently and the investigation had to be carried out.
It said the petitioners were having a guarantee (for the money) as SRM Group Chairman T R Pachamuthu, who was arrested following directives by the court, had deposited Rs 75 crore in a lower court while securing bail.
Hence, there need not be any apprehension in this regard, the court said adding it will pass orders on all the 16 petitions filed by students and parents by December 1.
Madhan was arrested from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, ending an extensive man-hunt spread over several states.
According to police, their probe has found that Madhan and his associates were allegedly involved in cheating 123 aspirants for under and post graduate courses in medicine in SRM group of institutions to the tune of Rs 84.27 crore.
( Source – PTI )
