PUDUCHERRY: As the noose tightens around Puducherry Transport and Education Minister PML Kalyanasundaram following the rejection of his anticipatory bail plea by the Madras High Court, the Minister has gone underground to evade arrest.The Villupuram crime branch had been making desperate attempts to secure him by spreading their dragnet far and wide. Five special teams had been positioned in Puducherry, some in plain clothes. Vigorous checking of vehicles and probable places for hiding were searched , after they missed the minister near Marakanam on Tuesday night. He is said to have escaped by fleeing in a vehicle with Tamil Nadu registration. However, the police secured the minister’s car, arrested the driver Giri and assistant Sekar. The minister is likely to remain underground, till an alternative legal remedy to get him bail is put in place, sources said. Chief minister N Rangasamy is not in favour of dropping the minister, nor is the minister going to resign by owning moral responsibility. Rangasamy was exploring various legal options to save the minister so that his arrest could be avoided, the source added.There are three options available to the chief minister in the current situation: The first is to submit a fresh application for anticipatory bail citing changed circumstances. The second option is for him to surrender in the judicial magistrate court in Tindivanam and secure a conditional bail. The third option would be to move the Supreme Court. Since there is no change in circumstances and the rejection of bail plea has happened, this option does not hold much water for the minister. If the two co-accused in the case, hall supervisor P Aadhavan and office assistant M Rajnikanth, had been arrested, the changed circumstances could have been used by the Minister for reconsideration of his anticipatory bail plea in High Court.The minister surrendering before the judicial magistrate would cause embarrassment not only to Kalyanasundaram but also to Rangasamy and his government. Besides, there is no surety of him getting a conditional bail as there are chances that he will be sent to judicial custody.The only option which could hold some hope for the minister is the Supreme Court. Since the bail plea has been rejected on the grounds that if granted advance bail he could use his influence to destroy evidence against him in the impersonation case, the petitioner could challenge that. Already the court has allowed him to go free for almost a month since the case was registered against him and the ground for rejection of bail plea could be challenged.Moreover, it was not a case that required eyewitness, as it was a case of impersonation, maintain people close to Kalyanasundaram. As he was a Puducherry minister, the opportunity to tamper with evidence did not arise, they felt. Though his supporters keep their fingers crossed, the green signal has to come from the chief minister, who has yet to take a decision.In case the chief minister decides to move Supreme Court, it would not be until next week. Their advocates would require time to prepare the petition challenging the rejection of bail plea. Till then it would be a challenge for the Tamil Nadu police to track him and get him for investigations in the case relating to impersonation in the SSLC supplementary examinations held at a private school in Tindivanam on September 29.Subsequently, the police had registered cases against the minister under various IPC sections After the failure of the Speaker to serve summons, police moved the Tindivanam judicial magistrate court and have sought a direction to the minister to cooperate in the inquiry by providing his specimen signature and a sample of his handwriting. The Minister appeared before the magistrate on November 2, but objected to the manner of probe by the police. The magistrate has posted the case for further hearing on November 11.
Comments
0 comment