A Dindigul-based realtor, who had filed a cheating complaint against former electricity Minister and member of the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) ‘Natham’ Viswanathan, has approached the Madras High Court Bench here, claiming that Mr. Viswanathan had engaged goons to threaten him.
In his petition seeking transfer of the investigation in the cheating case from Dindigul Town North police to the Crime Branch - Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID), the complainant, A. Sabapathy, claimed that Mr. Viswanathan had engaged contract killers to silence him.
Claiming to have escaped from the goons on several occasions, the petitioner contended that the former Minister’s activities amounted to violating the conditions imposed on him by the High Court while granting anticipatory bail in the case in March this year.
He also accused Dindigul police of inaction though he lodged a complaint regarding the threats.
“Hence, it is just and necessary to direct the first respondent (Dindigul Superintendent of Police) to transfer the investigation from the file of the second respondent (Dindigul Town North police station) to the third respondent (CB-CID) in the interest of justice. Otherwise, the petitioner will be put to irreparable loss and hardship,” the petition stated.
It may be noted that the former Minister had been accused of failing to return ₹2.97 crore out of the ₹4.97 crore allegedly paid by the complainant to several individuals, including a Revenue Divisional Officer, on the instructions of Mr. Viswanathan during the 2014 Parliamentary elections.
