The Supreme Court has directed the Madras High Court to quash a cheating case registered against T.R. Pachamuthu of the SRM group if all 136 complainants file affidavits expressing their willingness to withdraw their complaints on receipt of ₹85 crore paid by them through his accomplice S. Madhan for securing medical seats.
Disposing of a special leave petition (SLP) filed by him, a Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan also restrained a commissioner appointed by the High Court from disbursing the money to the complainants until they file affidavits stating that they would be satisfied if their money was returned and would not want the prosecution to continue.
“On filing the affidavits, the High court shall quash the proceedings arising out of the FIR in so far as the petitioner is concerned... and the amount shall be disbursed only after filing of the affidavits. The petitioner shall also be involved in the aforesaid process so that he is able to verify that only genuine persons had filed affidavits and received payments,” the apex court said.
The SLP had been preferred against the High Court’s September 6 order refusing to quash the case despite Mr. Pachamuthu having reached an agreement with the complainants to get the complaint withdrawn. Justice M.S. Ramesh had held that cases involving heinous crimes could not be quashed on the basis of a compromise reached between the accused and the victims.
Stating that the complainants would have agreed to withdraw the charges in their desperation to get back the money, the judge appointed former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court N. Paul Vasanthakumar as a commissioner to disburse the money to the claimants by utilising ₹75 crore deposited by Mr. Pachamuthu before a lower court while obtaining bail last year.
The commissioner was also asked to utilise a bank guarantee given by the accused for ₹10 crore before the metropolitan magistrate court at Saidapet on September 8, 2016.
