Two days after a small faction of disgruntled producers from the Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC) locked down offices in Anna Salai and T Nagar, the Madras High Court on Friday has ordered for the de-sealing of the Council’s office.
The High Court also rebuked the Chennai Police for detaining TFPC President and actor Vishal without reason and asked on what grounds did they prevent an elected member from entering their own Council office. Justice Anandha Venkatesan who passed the order also directed that all original documents including account books have to be submitted to the Deputy Registrar and the two sides can retain copies of the document.
The next hearing has been scheduled for four weeks from now. This order comes in response to a petition filed by TFPC represented by Executive Committee member Anbudurai. The petition states that Producer Radha Krishna, along with his supporters namely JK Ritheesh, Suresh Kamatchi, T Siva and 25 others including non-members, have illegally locked the office premises, thereby affecting the day-to-day functioning of the Association. Anbudurai, in his petition, had requested for action to be taken against the “miscreants” who were a hinderance to the smooth functioning of the Association.
On Wednesday, around 30 film producers locked TFPC’s offices in Chennai’s Anna Salai and T Nagar demanding Vishal’s resignation from the Council. They alleged that that the office bearers had misappropriated funds of the Council amounting to Rs 7 crore and violated the organisation’s bye-laws. Moreover, they claimed that since Vishal took over as President no General Council had been convened.
The next day, Vishal who had come to open the gates of the T Nagar office, was detained and put under ‘preventive custody’ by the Chennai police. Later in the evening, the Guindy Tahsildar Ramkumar had sealed the premises.
Speaking to the media after his release from the Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar wedding hall, where he was held for eight hours, Vishal had said, “They have detained me under Section 145. I have signed and said that I do not accept my illegal detention. I always look up to the court. We will approach the court and get justice.”
Even as Vishal was angrily questioning the police officers on Thursday morning and asking them to allow him to open the lock and enter the office, the group of producers who had led the lockdown were meeting Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami to submit their petition.
Source: The News Minute