Belated submission: Madras HC junks plea seeking compensation for death of Veerappan's brother-in-law

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court refused to entertain the plea seeking Rs 20 lakh compensation for the alleged suspicious death of Arjunan, forest bandit Veerappan's brother-in-law, as it was moved after 30 years.

Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed the plea after accepting the contention of the State that the petition was moved belatedly after a lapse of 30 years; hence, the police could not investigate the matter.

The State also submitted that the petition lacked materials to establish the case and sought to dismiss the plea.

Arjunan's son, Sathish Kumar (36), moved the plea seeking to issue directions to the state government to grant him a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for allegedly hiding the truth that his father died at the hands of police for over twenty years and alleged that the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments were responsible for this.

He submitted that Arjunan was tortured as he was a close relative of Veerappan and that his mother, Veerappan's sister, was pushed to suicide due to the unbearable cruelty inflicted on her.

Dharmapuri police arrested Arjunan at Pudhunagmarai village, Pennagaram, on September 14, 1995, alleging cattle theft, but he was not produced before any judicial magistrate or released, Sathish submitted. Sathish was a 6-year-old at that time.

The petitioner later made several representations before the Centre, State and the President to produce his father. However, in 2015, he filed an RTI application about his father, and it was found that the village officer of Natrampalayam issued a death certificate for Arjunan on December 26, 2001, to the Eraiyur police station but was not communicated to Sathish.