Sacked DGP wants to serve notice to estranged wife, now Energy Secretary, for snapping power to house; Madras High Court permits
The petitioner contended that when he returned from Delhi to Chennai, he found that the doors of his house at Thaiyur in Kelambakkam were broken and the electricity supply shut down.
Former special DGP Rajesh Das
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court allowed former special DGP Rajesh Das, who was dismissed from service and convicted in a case for sexually harassing a woman IPS officer, to serve notice to his estranged wife Beela Venkatesan, now the State Energy Department Secretary, for allegedly snapping power supply to the house they jointly own.
A vacation bench of Justice PB Balaji heard Das's petition seeking to direct the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) not to disrupt the electricity connection to his house.
The petitioner contended that when he returned from Delhi to Chennai, he found that the doors of his house at Thaiyur in Kelambakkam were broken and the electricity supply shut down.
As he was having a matrimonial dispute with his estranged wife and a divorce petition is pending in the Alandur court, she abused her authority and disrupted the electricity connection to the house, he alleged.
Advocate General (AG) PS Raman representing Tangedco submitted that Beela, as the owner of the land, wrote to the power utility to cut the electricity as no one is living in the house, and the electricity connection was snapped.
The petitioner’s counsel objected to the submission and said that the house was built with a housing loan and his client was paying the due every month from his income.
It was also submitted that Beela was well aware that his client has been living in that house since 2019, said the counsel.
As electricity is an essential aspect of life, the connection should be restored immediately, the counsel added.
After the submission, the judge refused to give any direction to restore the electricity and suggested the petitioner to get power supply restored by other means.
Further, the judge allowed the petitioner to serve notice to Beela and posted the matter to the next vacation bench on May 29.
The petitioner was also allowed to move the matter as urgent mention and list it earlier for hearing.
Das was sacked from service after an inquiry confirmed the junior officer's allegation that he had sexually harassed her. Later, after a court convicted him, he went absconding. But he recently obtained a temporary reprieve from the Supreme Court.