Tamil Nadu: Police asked to file case against former minister Natham Viswanathan
TIRUCHY: A lower court here on Thursday directed the city police to register a case against four persons including Natham Viswanathan, former AIADMK Minister and one of the senior leaders of the AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma faction (the faction is now led by former Chief Minister O. Pannerselvam), for allegedly ransacking the house of a real estate businessman in the city last year.
Police said the realtor Loganathan (56) of K K Nagar in the city was approached by one Kamaraj of Tirunelveli during June 2015, who had introduced himself as a 'good friend' of the then Electricity minister Natham Viswanathan.
Kamaraj, according to police, reportedly then said, "we will jointly set up a solar power plant at Iluppur in Pudukkottai district" and gave Rs 20 lakh to Loganathan to acquire 200 acres of land. Loganathan had received the amount from Kamaraj and acquired 201 acres by putting an additional Rs. 30 lakh on his own, police added.
When Loganathan later approached Kamaraj and held discussions on setting up a solar power plant, Kamaraj allegedly told Loganathan that the then minister wanted Rs 50 lakh for clearing the project and at one stage, Kamaraj had even threatened Loganathan.
On January 7 last year, Loganathan had sent a legal notice to Mr.Natham Viswanathan, police said. Following this, Kamaraj and his friends Arunkumar and Baskar with hired goons allegedly ransacked Loganathan's house.
Loganathan then preferred a complaint with K K Nagar police station, but the police did not register the case despite his repeated attempts. Following this, he moved the Judicial Magistrate-II court, seeking direction to the police to register the case against Mr Natham Viswanathan and others.
Based on his petition, the Judge Mr. Murualidharan Kannan directed the police to register a case against Natham Viswanathan, Kamaraj, Arunkumar and Baskar and submit a detailed report on the investigation of the case within a month to the court, police added.
