Tuesday, May 31 2005 21:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Well-known columnist and founder of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch S Gurumurthy, said today (May 31, 2005) that no arrest warrant was issued by a magistrate in Kancheepuram against him as was reported in the media.

In fact, the magistrate refused to issue a non-bailable warrant (NBW), which only results in arrest and the police had blatantly lied to the magistrate that I was absconding from March 24 onwards and sought an NBW," he said in a statement in Chennai tonight.

"This became evident when my advocate inspected the records of the court with the permission of the magistrate. Yet, the magistrate issued only a bailable warrant to appear before him on June 6, 2005," Gurumurthy said adding he appeared before the magistrate today and asked for the recall of the warrant, which the court was pleased to do on furnishing a surety.

"The media reports that an arrest warrant has been issued against me were clearly based on incorrect briefing by the police," he said.

Gurumurthy said the entire conduct of the police in filing the case (in connection with the articles written by him on the Sankararaman murder case) against him was in breach of the undertaking given by the public prosecutor in the Madras High Court.

"I had challenged the FIR filed by the police in this case by a writ petition and the High Court had admitted the petition in February 2005." The public prosecutor had given an oral undertaking that police would not arrest him.

"It is therefore obvious that the police has dishonestly abused the process of the court and breached their undertaking given before the High court. I am taking legal advice to launch appropriate proceedings for contempt and also to quash the prosecution in the High Court," he said.