Former AIADMK minister M Manikandan has been arrested in Bengaluru by Chennai City Police after a Malaysian woman levelled rape charges against him.
The complaint was lodged two weeks ago at the women’s police station in Adyar, in which the woman stated she is an actor by profession and had been in a relationship with Manikandan for years.
The 44-year-old politician has been accused of cheating, rape, causing miscarriage, hurt and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code apart from section 67 (a) of the Information Technology Act that relates to publishing sexually explicit acts online.
Manikandan was allegedly introduced to the Malaysian actor in May 2017 while the latter was working with the Malaysian Tourism Development Organisation. According to the prosecution’s complaints, the then state minister had offered to marry the Malaysian actor after divorcing his wife.
The two even stayed together, travelling across Chennai and Delhi, the prosecution said, adding that the accused impregnated the woman thrice, forced her to abort and continued to have sexual intercourse with her in a forceful and brutal manner.
However, Manikandan, during an interview with a local Tamil channel, had said that he doesn’t know the woman and this was a conspiracy to extort money from him and malign his image.