The city police have registered five more cases against S. Manimaran, editor of Tamil daily ‘Dina Bhoomi', on charges of extortion. Among the complainants are two hoteliers and the correspondent of a school.
Shah, who runs an arts and science college near Tirumangalam in Madurai district, and Asaithambi, correspondent of a higher secondary school in Theni district, alleged that Mr. Manimaran and his son M. Ramesh Kumar had threatened to tarnish the image of their institutions by publishing “false news items,” if they did not release advertisements to the newspaper, the police said.
Madurai District Hoteliers' Association president Kumar claimed that the father-son duo had asked him to give up a civil case. When he refused, the newspaper carried a “false” report against his hotel. They also extorted Rs.20,000.
Sankar, who runs several fruit juice stalls, also made a similar complaint against Mr. Manimaran.
All the complainants had claimed that they had come forward to lodge police complaint on knowing that cases of “cheating and extortion” had been registered against the editor and his son, the police said. Mr. Manimaran, his son and an associate, M. Muthiah, were arrested on July 20 in a case relating to threatening Periasami, president of the Madurai Granite Quarry Owners' Association.
