A team of Chennai Police arrested M Natarajan, husband of Sasikala, close confidant of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday. Natarajan was arrested from a private resort at Courtallam in connection with a case of cheating. A judge in the Egmore Court remanded him to judicial custody for 15 days and he was sent to the Puzhal Jail near Chennai.
The complaint against Natarajan was filed by Shihan Husseini, a Karate exponent. Husseini in his complaint had alleged that Natarajan had agreed to pay him Rs 98 lakh for designing a 50-foot-long and six-foot-tall frieze for installing at Mullivaaikaal Memorial at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The memorial was in honour of the Tamils who got killed in the war between Sri lankan Army and the lTTE during the last phase of the Eelam War in May 2009.
According to Husseini, Natarajan paid only Rs 75 lakh for the work. When he approached Natarajan for the balance amount, the latter threatened him and hence the complaint.
A case under section 347 (wrongful confinement to extort property) and 506 (II) (criminal intimidation) has been filed against Natarajan and others, according to sources in Chennai Police. This is the second time Natarajan has been arrested since Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister in 2011. He was arrested in 2012 following a complaint by an old woman in Thanjavur that her land has been illegally occupied by him. Natarajan was out on bail in the case when he was arrested from Courtallam falls.