CHENNAI: In one of the several attempts to arrest Tamil Nadu’st most wanted don Sridhar Dhanapalan, the Kancheepuram police detained his son at the Chennai airport on Saturday morning when he had come to the country to renew his visa.
Since his visa is expiring on July 20, Santhosh Sridhar (21) had come to India to renew it when he was nabbed by the police at the Chennai airport.
“Santhosh is in second year BCom at University of Sussex in the UK. Since his visa is expiring, he has come to India to renew it. He flew from the UK to Dubai, then to Sri Lanka and landed in Chennai at around 10.30 am on Saturday. After nearly 11 hours of interrogation by the police team, Santhosh was let off on Saturday night.” said a source.
However, he was summoned again and on Sunday he visited the Sivakanchi police station for further questioning. A detailed interrogation was conducted to find out the whereabouts of his father who is one of the most wanted persons by the State police and often referred as a top real estate ‘don’.
Sridhar, who is facing 43 cases, including seven murders, left the country in 2013 and has been absconding ever since. The State police have made multiple attempts top get him back, but with little success.
“Hence his son was detained to find out his whereabouts. We are only conducting inquiries about his father,” a top police official said seeking anonymity.
The don has acquired huge tracts of land allegedly through illegal means. He has been absconding since 2013.
On March 23 last year, his eldest daughter Dhanalakshmi had come to India and was similarly taken for inquiry by the police. Later, a ‘Look Out Circular’ was issued by the Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which she managed to get cancelled and fly out of the country. Meanwhile, in her 29-day stay in the country, she managed to sell a Rs 45-crore worth property secretly to a big textile retail chain in her native place and flew back to the UK, clearing two LOCs issued against her.
Later, on November 30, 2011, ED sleuths questioned the don’s wife Kumari (41) and Dhanalakshmi who flew from Dubai.
Sources said that currently, all the three children of Sridhar are in Kancheepuram, while the parents are in Dubai.