KOCHI: If you think Santhosh Madhavan has been arrested and is serving a jail term, you are wrong! For, as per the Interpol, he is still a wanted criminal!
A day after the Kerala High Court granted bail to self-styled godman Santhosh Madhavan, his name still figures prominently in the Interpol Red Corner notices. Even two years after he was arrested and sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for rape and sexual harassment of minor girls, the officials have not taken the trouble of removing his name from the list of wanted for whom the Interpol has issued Red Corner notices.
Santhosh Madhavan alias Amrithachaitanya was arrested on a complaint of sexually harassing minor girls and filming them. There were also cases against him, including cheating and illegal property transactions. It was while he was wanted by the Interpol that he visited a top police official in the state at his office. It had led to a controversy that he should have been taken into custody. Though he was arrested by the state police for rape and sexual harassment charges, the Interpol has included him in its wanted list for ‘Possession of sophisticated weapons.’ The Red Corner notice (issued by Interpol, New Delhi, with notice control number A-177-2-2003) says that if anyone comes across any information about the person, it should be communicated to the national or local police. Santhosh Madhavan’s date of birth has been given as June 7, 1960, and the place of birth as Kerala.
“Red Corner notice is issued when there are chances that the person may go abroad. That’s why these notices are displayed prominently at all airports. The notice is issued based on a request from the investigating agency or the local police. So, once a wanted person is taken into custody, the police should inform the CBI - the Indian agency for Interpol. Otherwise, the Red Corner notice will continue to be in effect,” sources in the CBI said. “If the Red Corner notice is issued for one offence and the person is arrested for another, he will continue to be in the wanted list,” they said.