Chennai: Two days after the Madras high court chided Chennai police for showing no progress in the case relating to the disappearance of film producer S. Madhan, police sources said the partner of Vendhar movies, is holed up in Kerala.
A team led by an ADSP of city central crime branch has rushed to the neighbouring state. Madhan went missing on May 27. “We are pursuing all possible leads. But yet to zero in on him,” said a CCB official on Saturday without disclosing further details.
A high court Division Bench on Thursday said if the city police could not locate Madhan, the court will not hesitate to hand over the case to an independent agency.
So far four persons, including functionaries of India Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) were arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB), in connection with the medical college seat racket, which is an offshoot of the probe into Madhan missing case.
The SRM Group of institutions is also named as an accused in the case in which a total of 109 complaints from medical seat aspirants were cheated to the tune of Rs 75.39 crore. Madhan is believed to have collected the money on behalf of the group chairman Pachamuthu.
Police had been claiming that Madhan was hiding in Nepal, but failed to track him. Fresh information indicates he is somewhere in Kerala, sources said.
Based on a complaint from Jayachandran, police had registered a case under IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 420 (cheating). Police have named Madan’s manager Sudhir and accountant Guna as accused number 1 and 2 in the FIR.
On May 28, after Madhan ‘went missing’, a letter purportedly written by him was circulated on WhatsApp. It claimed he was going to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to attain ‘samadhi’. Later, Madhan’s wife Sumalatha and other family members told the media their fear was that SRM group was behind Madhan’s disappearance.
Police are expecting to make some breakthrough in the case by August 30, the date of next hearing in high court.
