CHENNAI: Citing an unexplained delay in invoking the preventive detention law, the Madras High Court quashed the Goondas Act detention of a property developer who was arrested in connection with an alleged Rs 43-crore apartment fraud case involving DMDK Rajya Sabha MP LK Sudhish's wife, S Poornajothi.
The case had attracted attention after the court raised pointed questions at DVAC director A Arun, the then Chennai city police Commissioner who issued the detention order, and the latter launched a spirited defence claiming the allegations against him were raised by “criminals and scoundrels”.
According to the prosecution, Lokaa Developers Managing Director Santhosh Sharma entered into a development agreement with Poornajothi for the construction of 234 apartments on 2.10 acre of land owned by her at Ramadoss Nagar in Kolathur. Under the agreement, 78 apartments were to be allotted to Poornajothi and her husband, Sudhish.
Based on a complaint alleging that Sharma had forged signatures and sold those 78 apartments for Rs 43 crore, Sharma was arrested. Though he was granted bail, another case was registered in 2025 alleging that he cheated buyers by failing to hand over apartments. He was arrested again. Soon afterwards, the city police invoked the Goondas Act and detained Sharma on September 22, 2025.
Challenging this, his daughter, Varsha Sharma, filed a habeas corpus petition. She contended that the detention was illegal, as the alleged offences related to the period between 2019 and 2023, while the Goondas Act was invoked only in 2025 – after an unexplained delay of nearly two years.
Holding that the delay has not been satisfactorily explained, a vacation bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan quashed the detention order.