Hemnath, the husband of late television presenter and actor VJ Chitra, was granted bail by the Madras High Court on Friday after he was arrested for cheating students by promising them seats at medical colleges to the tune of Rs 1.05 crore.
The case dates back to 2015 when a complaint was filed by parents of some students at the JJ Nagar Police Station in Chennai. Hemnath was arrested in connection with the case this January by the Central Crime Branch.
The bail application came up for hearing before Justice V Bharathidasan on Friday. The court directed Hemnath to deposit Rs 15 lakh as a cautionary deposit within three weeks.
While Hemnath and Chitti Sundar, son of a police officer, were accused of cheating the students, Additional Public Prosecutor M Prabhavathi said that Hemnath is accused of two similar cases of cheating and had volunteered to settle and repay the victims. It was also recorded in the court that Hemnath has paid Rs 10 lakh as part-payment in settling the money and was taking time to make the remaining payment while the case was under investigation.
Hemnath was arrested on the charges of abetment to suicide after Chitra was found dead in December 2020 in a hotel room the couple was staying at in Chennai’s Nazrethpettai. Hemnath was granted conditional bail for this case last week.
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Speaking to Silverscreen India, Prabhavathi said, “Since he did not get bail for the medical seat scam case, Hemnath was in jail even though he had gotten the bail for his earlier charges. Now, that he had got bail for both the cases, he will be released.”
“Initially Hemnath had paid Rs 10 lakh in 2013 as part payment to compensate the victims after they complained. However, he escaped from paying after that, so the students had filed a complaint in 2015. After that he was arrested in Chitra’s case and remained in jail,” she said.
Asked about the rest of the payments to the students, she said that police will undertake further investigation and a trial will be conducted after the inquiry.