The Madras High Court has directed the SRM University Chancellor T.R. Pachamuthu to provide an additional bank guarantee of ₹10 crore in connection with criminal cases pending against him, which was initiated by parents of aspiring medical students claiming that the Chancellor and film producer Madhan have cheated them to the tune of over ₹70 crore.
Justice R. Mahadevan has also directed Mr. Madhan, who is presently under judicial custody to produce original title deeds of six properties worth over ₹9 crore registered in his name/ his mother’s name as a condition for enlarging him on bail.
The issue pertains to sudden disappearance of Mr. Madhan, Managing Director of Vendhar movies, on May 28, 2016. He went missing leaving behind a suicide note. His mother moved the high court through a habeas corpus plea seeking to trace his missing son. During the course of the hearing, a group of parents of aspiring medical students approached the court claiming that Mr. Madhan had cheated them by promising medical seats in S.R.M University and collecting crores of rupees as advance for them.
On December 21, police secured Mr. Madhan and remanded him to judicial custody. The prime accused in the case Mr. Pachamuthu was released on bail after he deposited ₹75 crore with a Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Now, Mr. Pachamuthu has moved a separate plea seeking to quash the criminal proceeding pending against him, in which the court ordered him to pay the additional bank guarantee.
‘Modify condition’
Similarly, Mr. Madhan filed a separate petition seeking to modify the bail condition imposed by a Magistrate court mandating him to pay ₹10 crore as surety.
Claiming that he has no resource, he pleaded to deposit some more property documents in addition to the documents already seized by the police totalling to ₹9 crore. Accepting his request, the court posted the petitions to April 3 for further hearing.
