CHENNAI: The displeasure of the Madras High Court over the detention of a real estate developer under the stringent Goondas Act over a property dispute exploded into high drama after the bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan grew livid that a court bailiff was made to wait for more than two hours to serve summons to former Chennai City police commissioner A Arun, who is now heading the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
Facing the court’s fury, Arun launched a blistering attack on his social media critics, claiming that criminals and scoundrels were spreading lies about him.
The issue escalated when the bailiff, who arrived at DVAC Director Arun’s office at 3.05 pm on Wednesday, was allowed to serve the notice only by 5.15 pm. Visibly angered by this, Justice Swaminathan refused to hear any submissions from government counsel until the staff responsible for this appeared before him.
Following this, Harsha Mohan, a DVAC staffer tendered apology for the delay, claiming that Arun was in a confidential meeting at that time.
Arun was summoned in connection with a petition filed by property developer Santosh Sharma, who was detained under the Goondas Act after being arrested for alleged irregularities in the construction of 234 apartments on a land owned by Poornajothi, wife of DMDK treasurer LK Sudheesh, in Kolathur. Of these, 78 apartments were reportedly allotted, leading to complaints of fraud involving several crores of rupees.
When asked about his decision to invoke the Goondas Act, Arun pointed out that public protests had escalated, and 199 people had been victimised. He alleged that the developer forged signatures and cheated the public of crores of rupees.
When the judges noted social media posts critical of him, the officer said, “False and misleading information is being posted about me on social media. But there is no proper mechanism in the department to respond to this. In my 28 years of service, there is not a single complaint against me. I am an honest and professional officer. I take action when wrongdoings occur.
“The criminals and scoundrels who faced action from me have now united and are writing falsehoods against me on social media. They are lying. Freedom of speech exists only for those writing on social media; it does not exist for government servants like us. The court is our only support.”
When he urged the court to review his service records, stating that action could be taken against him if even a single word of complaint was found to be true, the court observed that he had been summoned to justify the Goondas Act detention. The bench then adjourned the hearing, stating it would pass orders on Friday.