: Actor Dhanush has approached the Madras High Court Bench here with a plea to quash a case instituted against him by an elderly couple before the Judicial Magistrate Court at Melur near here claiming that he was their son, and therefore, they were entitled to a monthly maintenance amount of ₹65,000 from him.
In his quash petition, the actor denied that he was the son of R. Kathiresan (65) and his wife K. Meenakshi (53) of Melur and claimed that “it is a clear case of blackmail.”
He also contended that the aim of the petitioners was to embarrass him and his parents Krishnamoorthy and K. Vijayalakshmi.
Stating that the Magistrate ought not to have entertained the petition filed by the elderly couple and issued process to him on November 25, Mr. Dhanush urged the High Court to stay all further proceedings before the Magistrate until a final decision was taken by the court on his plea to quash the entire case instituted against him.
Notice to couple
When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, Justice G. Chockalingam ordered issuance of notice to Mr. Kathiresan and his wife and adjourned the case to February 8.
According to the actor, he was born to Mr. Krishnamoorthy and Ms. Vijayalakshmi at the Children’s Hospital in Egmore, Chennai, on July 28, 1983 and got named as Venkatesh Prabhu.
He changed his name to Dhanush K. Raja on December 17, 2003, and his maiden movie Thulluvatho Ilamai also got released that year.
“This being the case, the petitioner was shocked to learn that the respondents herein have made a preposterously false claim that he was born to them. This honourable court can take judicial notice of the fact that such frivolous and false cases are generally filed against well-known personalities. Actress Sridevi was one such victim and the petitioner is the latest in the series of victims,” he also said.
No evidence
Mr. Dhanush also pointed out that the couple who had claimed to be his parents had not placed any evidence to support their claim of having given birth to him at Government Rajaji Hospital here on November 7, 1985.
