More than a week after producer Ashok Kumar killed himself after allegedly being harassed, Madurai-based financier Anbu Chezhian has moved the Madras High Court for anticipatory bail.
This after the Chennai police named him as an accused and booked Anbu Chezhian for abetment to suicide (IPC Section 306), based on a complaint filed by Ashok’s cousin and director Sasikumar.
In his anticipatory bail plea filed before the High Court on Tuesday, Anbu Chezian states, “I respectfully submit that I am innocent and I am not guilty of any offence. I submit that I do not have anything to do with the said B Ashok Kumar directly or indirectly. I have been falsely implicated in the case for extraneous reasons to wriggle out of the defacto complainant civil liabilities.”
He goes on to state that Sasikumar had received a loan from him for the film Tharai Thappattai, which was a flop. And while Anbu Chezhian notes that it is practice in the cinema industry to repay the loan before the release of the next film, the financier states, “The loan which was obtained by the Defacto Complainant for the said film remains unpaid till date. I was not paid any interest or principal in respect of the said loan.”
He says that while Sasikumar had promised to repay the loan before his film Kodiveeran released on November 30, he has not settled the amount. The financier also denied allegations that he had threatened to not allow Kodiveeran if the loan was not repaid. “Only in order to avoid and evade from payment of the legitimate dues, I am sought to be made as an accused for the death of B Ashok Kumar,” he stated in his affidavit.
Anbu Chezhian states that it is only Sasikumar who owes him dues and not Ashok Kumar and that the suicide note is suspicious and was “planted in the place of occurrence”.
On November 21, producer Ashok Kumar hanged himself to death at his apartment in Chennai. In a two-page suicide note left behind, Ashok blamed Anbu Chezhian for his decision to take his life, accusing the financier of continuously harassing and insulting him.
"For the last 10 years all the films we have produced have released on time. The only big sin that we committed was to take a loan from Anbu Chezhiyan. For the last seven years he has been taking interest upon interest from us, but for the last six months he has been behaving in a very derogatory manner. Using his men he has been targeting the women and elders in my house. Who can I go to for help? All the people like the big shots in the class of officers (police), in the government, Cinema Federation chief Selvin Raj, are in his pocket. I cannot oppose him," the suicide note stated.