Siva sekaran By

CHENNAI: Donning the role of a guardian of an orphaned, intellectually and physically disabled youngster, the High Court of Madras directed the Crime Branch CID wing to investigate the allegation that his former wife kidnapped and remarried him, and sold one of his properties for a huge sum in connivance with the officials involved.

The court sought a probe into the role played by the local police officials who allegedly failed to take action over the complaint of kidnap, the pastor who solemnised the wedding without following Christian rituals and the sub-registrars who registered the marriage and issued the sale deed for his property.

According to the petition filed by the young man’s guardian, Priyadarshini married Manoj Rajan, a rich boy with hearing and speech disabilities, in September 2008. Within a few months, she applied for divorce on the ground that his intellectual disability was not disclosed at the time of marriage. She obtained the decree in her favour, with a one-time alimony of Rs 4 lakh. In December 2013, his father EJ Rajan died after which he was admitted to a charity home in Gudalur. On May 4, about seven years after she divorced him, Priyadarshini abducted Manoj from the charity home with the help of a group of men. They quickly made arrangements for a remarriage which was solemnised by a priest at a church in Royapuram and registered by a local sub-registrar. Within a fortnight, Priyadarshini and her men sold his property in Thirumazhisai for `1.67 crore, entirely in cash.

Coming to the rescue of an intellectually and physically disabled man whom his former wife allegedly kidnapped and remarried and whose property she sold off, Justice P N Prakash of the Madras High Court issued a set of directions to various authorities concerned to protect him.

The judge first transferred the case from the Gudalur police to the CB CID (North Zone), with a direction to the ADGP to nominate a competent DSP to investigate the case. They were directed to investigate the abduction, including the complaint that the local police did not register a case despite one from the Gudalur Charity Home where Manoj was housed, the alleged marriage solemnised on May 6, and also the sale of Thirumazhisai property and its money trail.

Both sub-registrars had justified that Manoj nodded his head, which they assumed as his consent to the marriage and property sale. The sub-registrars at Poonamallee and Royapuram were directed to immediately handover the CCTV footages from the days on which marriage and property sale were registered to the DSP. The property (Doc.No.2273 of 2016 ) will be in the possession of the CB CID under lock and key until a competent court decides about the validity of the sale. The sub-registrars at Poonamallee (Doc.No.2273 of 2016), Sriperumbudur (Doc. Nos. 3848 of 1989 and 4598 of 1989) and Chennai South (Doc.No.4040 of 2007) were restrained from registering further document until further orders.

Within a week, Manoj will be shifted from the charity home in Gudalur to a ‘very secure place’. Justice Prakash has requested Gnanadeepam Bhodhi near Azhagar Koil in Madurai, run by M S Chellamuthu Trust, to take care of Manoj. The trust will also assess his capabilities and mental faculty and submit a report to the CB CID, with a copy to this court, the judge added.

The court later posted the matter for hearing on August 24.