Monday, February 14 2005 20:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: The Madras High Court today (Feb 14, 2005) admitted a Habeas Corpus Petition, seeking to set aside an order detaining M K Raghu, brother of Junior Kanchi Seer Vijayendra, under the Goondas Act.

Admitting the petition filed by M K Prabhakaran, an elder brother of Raghu, a Division bench, comprising Justice M Karpagavinayagam and Justice A R Ramalingam, however, turned down an interim prayer for granting interim bail during the pendency of the petition.

The Judges issued notice, returnable in four weeks, to Kancheepuram District Collector, among others.

In the HCP, Prabhakaran alleged that the detention of his brother under the Goondas Act was 'malafide' and passed solely to stifle Raghu's attempt to secure bail in the Sankararaman murder case, in which he has been arraigned as an accused.

Claiming that there was no nexus or proximity between the incident and the January 21 last detention order, the petitioner alleged that the 'detaining authority has erred in branding the detenu as a goonda.'

He contended that no material was disclosed to show why the detaining authority had concluded that Raghu was a goonda. Besides, there was not even a whisper about the extent of his brother's involvement in the murder case, he claimed.

Contending that the grounds for detention were vague and unclear and paralysed the detenu from effectively representing his case to the authority concerned, the petitioner alleged that Raghu had been arraigned in the case because he failed to toe the line of the investigating agency and become an approver.