Former ADMK Minister Manikandan is sent to jail under judicial custody on Sunday, hours after he got arrested in the case of sexual harassment, that was lodged by a Tamil actress. Manikandan had been at large for several days to evade the arrest and special teams were deployed to nab him. After an incessant manhunt, the police team had arrested Manikandan in Bengaluru. 

According to reports, Chennai police had in the morning hours of Sunday apprehended Manikandan in Bengaluru, where he was hiding in his friend's residence, and he was then brought to Chennai for further investigations. The police officials had questioned the former minister for two hours post which he was produced before a Magistrate court and after the hearing, Manikandan was sent to judicial custody till July 2. 

The arrest and judicial custody have come days after the Madras High Court had dismissed Manikandan's anticipatory bail petition and refused to grant him interim relief from arrest. By rejecting his bail plea, the judicial body has noted that the charges against the former minister were serious and he could destroy the evidence through his political influence. After the dismissal, the police had intensified the manhunt against him. 

A 32-year-old Tamil actress had lodged a complaint against Manikandan by stating that the latter had been in a live-in relationship with her for over five years and promised to marry her. He had made her pregnant three times and forced her to abort the fetus all three times. The actress claimed that Manikandan had cheated on her and refused to marry her as he promised. He had intimidated her not to open up their relationship by threatening her that he will release her private photos. 

She had filed a complaint against Manikandan on May 28 and based on her complaint, the Adyar All-Women Police station has registered a case against the former ADMK Minister under sections 376- rape, 313- causing miscarriage without women's consent, 323 -punishment for voluntarily causing hurt, 417- punishment for cheating, and 506(i) - criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. 

After knowing that a case has been filed, Manikandan had gone absconded and had been at large. The Chennai police had formed special teams and launched the manhunt to arrest him. The police officials had rushed to Manikandan's home district of Ramanathapuram and they questioned his relatives about his whereabouts. 

Later last week, the police had formed two additional teams to arrest him with the information that he was hiding in Madurai. After days of intensified search, Manikandan had finally got arrested in Bengaluru. Manikandan was elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from the Ramanathapuram constituency in 2016 and served as the Minister of Information and Technology from 2016 to 2019.