High court denies anticipatory bail to Sasikalaa brother

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Sasikalaa Natarajan’s brother V Divakaran, who apprehended arrest in a house demolition case.
According to a case registered by the Tiruvarur district police, Divakaran was behind the demolition of a house of one Kasthuri at Rishiyur village in Needamangalam taluk on November 28, 2011.
Divakaran, however, denied the allegation and blamed the case on the “recent melee in the political situation” and that he was being “harassed due to political vendetta”.
He said the demolition was carried out by the authorities of the Arulmigu Kailasanathan Temple at Rishiyur under the supervision of the assistant commissioner of the HR&CE department as the house site belonged to the temple. Kasthuri had occupied the temple site illegally and constructed the house without the knowledge of the temple authorities, he said.
Claiming that he came to know about the complaint against him only through media reports, he said police officials came to his house on January 21 in search of him. The officials, however, were refused permission to enter his college premises as girl students were on the campus. Divakaran said police officers informed the college authorities that they were acting on the instructions of the district superintendent of police. He said the complaint had been lodged with a view to tarnish his image.
Divakaran is the second person, after Ravanan, from Sasikalaa’s family to face the police wrath after she parted ways with CM Jayalalithaa earlier this month.
But with the court refusing to grant him anticipatory bail, Divakaran’s counsel offered to withdraw the petition. “After making elaborate submissions, the advocate for the petitioner seeks to withdraw the petition. The petition is accordingly dismissed as withdrawn,” said Justice M M Sundresh in his brief order.