Former AIADMK Minister D. Jayakumar has told Madras High Court that he forced a DMK cadre to remove his shirt on the day of urban local bodies polls in the State because the latter was a “hard core criminal” facing 11 criminal cases and hence there was every chance of him carrying a weapon either in the hip or inside his shirt.
Mr. Jayakumar, now in judicial custody after his arrest on February 19, also claimed that the shirt was used to tie the hands of Naresh Kumar, who was suspected to be involved in bogus voting, and thereafter he was taken half-naked to be handed over to the police. The police, however, let off the DMK cadre without any action, he complained.
He pointed out that Section 43 of the Code of Criminal Procedure authorises private individuals too to arrest a person committing cognisable offence and hand him over to the police.
The submissions were made in a petition filed by the former Minister seeking bail in an attempt to murder case registered against him on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kumar. Claiming that he had actually prevented people from assaulting the complainant on the polling day, the petitioner said, he had nevertheless been arrested and remanded in a false case.
He, further, said, the initial First Information Report registered against him contained only one non bailable section (506 part II – punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. However, Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC was added much later to prevent him from obtaining bail from a Judicial Magistrate, he alleged.
The petitioner also claimed that the complainant had got himself admitted in a government hospital without sustaining any injuries and said the Accident Register does not have any mention about the nature of injuries. He stated that the DMK cadre was not getting discharged from the hospital only to defeat the benefit of bail to the petitioner.
