2 cases quashed, Sun boss not out of the woods

CHENNAI: With the complainants withdrawing their plaints of cheating against Sun Pictures, the Madras High Court on Wednesday quashed both the complaints filed against its chief operating officer (COO) Hansraj Saxena.While delivering the order on a petition moved by Saxena seeking quashing of the plaints, Justice T Sudanthiram observed, “The dispute arises out of commercial transactions. The de-facto complainants have come forward for quashing the proceedings by arriving at amicable settlement. This court feels that the criminal proceedings against the petitioners stand quashed.”Film distributors T S Selvaraj and Shanmugavelu had filed complaints of cheating and intimidation against Saxena and producer Ayyappan at K K Nagar police station. Based on their complaints, the K K Nagar police arrested both Saxena and Ayyappan on July 3 and July 7 respectively.However, the case took a curious turn on Tuesday when Selvaraj and Shanmugavelu filed petitions with the High Court stating that they had entered into a compromise with Sun Pictures and wanted to withdraw their complaints.While Selvaraj’s complaint was that Sun Pictures had cheated him of `82.53 lakh in connection with the release of Tamil movie Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai,  Shanmugavelu in his complaint stated that he got the distribution rights for the film for Salem but later withdrew. Shanmugavelu alleged that he had been threatened and forced to pay `45 lakh to Hansraj Saxena.