CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed former Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun to appear in person next week while hearing a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention of realtor Santhosh Sharma under the Goondas Act, with the court observing that the detention order shocks the conscience.
The matter came up before the vacation bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan, which questioned who had passed the detention order under the Goondas Act. The bench then directed former Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun to appear in person before the court next week and adjourned the hearing of the case.
Santhosh Sharma, managing director of Lokaa Developers Private Limited, entered into an agreement to construct a building with 234 apartments on a 2-acre 10-cent land in Kolathur's Ramadoss Nagar owned by S Poornajothi, wife of DMDK MP LK Sudhish.
As per the agreement, 78 apartments were to be allotted to Sudhish and Poornajothi. A complaint was later lodged alleging that Santosh Sharma had forged signatures and sold the 78 apartments allotted to Sudhish and Poornajothi for Rs 43 crore. Based on the complaint, a criminal case was registered, and Sharma was arrested.
He was later released on bail, and another case was registered in 2025, alleging that he had cheated buyers by failing to hand over the apartments they bought. He was arrested again.
Subsequently, the then Chennai Police Commissioner Arun issued a detention order against Sharma under the Goondas Act on September 22, 2025.
Sharma's daughter Varsha Sharma filed a habeas corpus petition before the Madras High Court, contending that the detention was illegal since the incidents pertained to the period between 2019 and 2023, whereas the Goondas Act was invoked only in 2025, after an unexplained delay of nearly two years.
The petition also stated that after Sharma had already been arrested and released on bail in connection with the same incident, two more cases were registered on identical allegations to justify invoking the preventive detention law. The matter has been posted to June for final hearing.
Meanwhile, Sharma's wife, Kalpana Sharma, filed an interim application seeking four weeks' leave for her husband on the grounds that their daughter had been hospitalised due to ill health and required care.