Shanmugam said because the case of attempting to murder him has reached the stage of witness examination, he had applied for police protection in November 2021 and January 2022. But the police did not respond to his requests.

During hearing, his counsel KS Dinakaran contended that the former minister was being denied the right to get police protection despite his life being under threat and that he has been living without security cover for 18 months at a time when the attempted murder case reached a critical stage.

Criticising the police’s contention that there was not threat to his life, the counsel also wondered whether the police were waiting for some untoward incident to happen.

Responding to the allegations, Babu Muthu Meeran representing the police submitted that Shanmugam was provided police protection for 18 years, which was withdrawn based on the district police’s report that there was no threat to his life. “The security cover was withdrawn based on the decision of the Security Review Committee,” he added. After hearing the arguments, Justice G Chandrasekharan reserved orders.