Chennai, July 1(BPNS)

AIADMK leader and former IT minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Manikandan has moved the Madras high court seeking bail in a rape case in which he was arrested and jailed. He has moved Madras High court for bail in a case registered by the Greater Chennai police.

The former minister is now lodged in Puzhal jail after there were complaints that he was provided VIP facilities at the Saidapet Sub Jail  where he was kept after being arrested in Bangalore on June 20.

The AIADMK leader in his bail plea said that the complainant is not a teenager or an illiterate woman but a Malaysian citizen and a movie actor. He said that the complainant knows fully well on the consequences of having a sexual relationship with a married man. In the petition, the former minister said that even if her complaint of having a sexual relationship with him on the promise of marrying her after divorcing his wife was true, it did not amount to rape.

M. Manikandan in his petition said that a completely false complaint had been lodged against him by the Malaysian actor and her associates to avoid repayment of a loan amount of Rs 5 lakh that she had taken from him.

The former minister in the petition also said he was a general surgeon in the Tamil Nadu government service for 12 years before entered into politics and said that he had a credible track record.