Kevin, who was arrested in May 2022 and accused of demanding Rs 50 lakhs from a real estate company to ensure that Tamil bi-weekly magazine Junior Vikatan does not publish a story about them, has filled an affidavit in the Madras High Court asking for the case against him to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Mylapore police arrested him based on a complaint from Ramajayam alias Bala, the founder and director of G Square Realtors.
In the affidavit, Kevin mentioned that he had known Ramajayam for many years and asked why the latter had filed a complaint against him. He added, “Based on this flimsy complaint without any enquiry and also not enquiring me about the oral conversations that transpired between myself and Ramajayam, the Mylapore police has barged into my house, arrested me and also seized all the software, computer and all other documents which were in my house.”
Kevin also mentioned in the affidavit how it was Ramajayam who had first approached him, saying that there is going to be an article in Junior Vikatan tarnishing the reputation of his firm G Square Realtors. The affidavit also states that Ramajayam wanted his help to ensure that the article is not published.
Kevin said that he obliged Ramajayam’s request and contacted some people he knew at the magazine to which the magazine responded that they publish articles only after they have verified all the information and all the sources. The affidavit said, “ [They] asked me not to interfere in this matter and as to preserve their professional integrity as a journalist they have to publish articles after verifying all the facts (sic).” Kevin had subsequently dropped the matter and the article was published on January 18, 2022.
After the publication of the article, Kevin said that there had been no contact between him and Ramajayam. It was only when Kevin was arrested four months later, he came to know that it was Ramajayam who had “concocted the facts” and filed a complaint against him. The First Information Report (FIR) filed based on Ramajayam’s complaint implicated whistleblower Savukku Shankar and YouTuber Maridhas. Ramajayam alleged that Kevin threatened the stories will be published and he would ask both of them to write defamatory articles about G Square Realtors. The editors of Junior Vikatan were also mentioned in the FIR.
After protests by journalists in Chennai, Savukku Shankar, Junior Vikatan’s editors and Maridhas’s name was dropped from the FIR. But Kevin was arrested and was remanded to judicial custody for five days and was granted bail on June 28, 2022.
Even before Kevin could be released, one Rakesh Dugar filed a complaint against him on May 29, alleging that he had cheated him of money. Another FIR was filed and Kevin was booked under Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act (when a cheque is returned to the issuer as there were insufficient funds in their bank account). Due to the new FIR, Kevin was not able to leave prison even though he had gotten bail in the previous case.
In the affidavit, Kevin mentioned, “The purpose of the respondent was to keep me incarcerated for an extended period of time. For that purpose they have made up these kinds of fresh cases under the instigation of some influential political persons and the respondents have been acting at the behest of these persons without any basis (sic).”
When Kevin applied for bail for the case filed by Rakesh Dugar, one Sulaiman had filed a complaint against him for not returning money that he had borrowed from him. The affidavit said that these complaints were based between 2015-17 and alleged that the police have been bringing it up every two to three years to ensure that Kevin went to jail frequently.
In his affidavit, Kevin alleged that these complaints were being made by people who have strong political connections and enquiries by the police officers “will only be used as a tool against me.” Citing this reason, Kevin has asked the Madras High Court to transfer the case to an external agency failing which “these kinds of retributive revengeful action taken by some persons will grow undeterred.”