CHENNAI: “The facts of the case at hand read like a Sydney Sheldon narrative.“ This is how Justice P N Prakash of the Madras high court described the Manoj Rajan case, astounded by a web of conspiracy, bad luck and life threats spun around the speech and hearing impaired, mentally ill and orphaned man.

Manoj was an Independence Day child, born to industrialist E J Rajan and Lissie Rajan of the Nilgiris in 1979. He was congenitally deaf and mute, and his mental growth was also retarded.After Lissie's death in 1993, Manoj was put in a special school. Rajan senior got Manoj married to a girl named Priya Darshini in 2008 at the Luz Church in Mylapore, Chennai. Within a year of the marriage, Priya Darshini sought divorce, saying Manoj was not in fit condition even to understand the institution of marriage, and that he could not even identify her as his wife. Divorce was granted on the grounds of cruelty and non-consummation. She got '4 lakh as permanent alimony .

Trouble began for Manoj after his the senior Rajan's death in December 2013. The father had left behind his son and vast properties in the care of a relative, Rudolf Stany Pinto, and a trusted chartered accountant Ananthan.Manoj was admitted to a special home in Gudalur in 2014.

In 2015, Manoj's divorced wife resurfaced with a habeas corpus petition in the Madras high court, alleging that Manoj was being illegally detained by Ananthan and Pinto. After inquiry the court dismissed the claim, saying she had no locus standi.

In a renewed attempt to take custody of her handicapped ex-husband, Priya Darshini and a group of advocates abducted Manoj from the Gudalur home in May this year. Though the home lodged a complaint, the Gudalur police did not register an FIR, choosing instead to give just an acknowledgement (CSR).

Ananthan then moved the high court for remedy. Justice Prakash issued a series of orders which led to police personnel being summoned to court and Manoj being finally traced in Chennai and restored to the home.

Interestingly, in the interregnum period, too many things had happened to the handicapped man. He was 'married' again to Priya Darshini, the wedding being solemnized by pastor John Amalraj in violation of the Christian Marriage Act.

Justice Prakash said this hurried marriage made the court smell a rat and go deeper into the issue by appointing amicus curiae. It was G Krishnamoorthy, one of the amicus, who feared that Priya Darshini and her associates might have made Manoj sign property documents between May 4, 2015, when he was abducted, and July 25, 2016 when he was traced in Chennai.

The worst fears of the court on this front too came true, when it was revealed that Manoj was 'remarried' to his ex-wife on May 6, and on the same day he had 'signed' documents to 'sell' a property in Thirumazhisai near Chennai for Rs 1.6 crore. Wondering how the sub-registrar could flout rules and allow a mentally ill and speech and hearing impaired person to sign documents, Justice Prakash said he was startled and intrigued by the registrar's claim that Manoj nodded to queries about the property . Who was the purchaser, and how could close to Rs 1 crore have been paid 'in cash' though every transaction over and above `20,000 had to be done by cheque or by RTGS, he asked.

In the end, convinced that the threat to Manoj and his assets was real and imminent, the judge laid down an 11-point charter ensuring safety of the man and his properties. As he had already ensured that the Gudalur police registered an abduction case where Priya Darshini, her sister's boy friend, sister, parents and others had been named, the judge handed over the case to CB-CID in Chennai for a probe. A DSPrank officer will handle it.

Manoj was then ordered to be shifted to Gnanadeepam Bhodhi near Madurai as it is safe. The judge stopped the sub-registrars concerned from registering the properties of Manoj and said this order should reflect in the encumbrance certificate as well. The CBCID shall take possession of the sold Thirumazhisai property and keep it under lock and key.

The Chennai north district registrar will issue showcause notice to pastor John Amalraj as to why his marriage licence should not be cancelled for performing sham marriages.



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