Justice Karnan stayed in Kochi resort for three days
KOCHI: Justice C S Karnan, who was on the run after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest on charges of contempt of court, spent a few days in a private resort in Kochi.
Mathews J Nedumpara, who is representing the former HC judge before the Supreme Court, told 'Express' that the judge stayed in Kochi before he was arrested from Coimbatore on Tuesday evening. Karnan stayed at Lake Symphony Resort, Panangad for three days.
According to Hari Nair, owner of the resort, the room was not booked in Justice Karnan’s name. “Due to this, the resort staff were not aware of the identity of the person staying there,” he said. The room was booked in the name of A M Raj, Chudaman Street, Chennai from June 11. According to Hari, three persons including an older man checked into the room on June 11 evening. They checked out on June 14 early morning. During the three days, the old man never came out of the room but two youths, who seemed to be his aides, went out several times, said Hari.
Justice Karnan's counsel Mathews said he would approach the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking an urgent hearing of the petition pending before it. He stated that the arrest was illegal as the matter was pending before the SC. “I will seek that the Court suspend the sentence awarded by the Supreme Court and plead for bail for Justice Karnan," he said.
Meanwhile, receiving information that Justice Karnan had been staying at the resort, a police team led by Panangad SI K Dileep Kumar reached the spot and conducted an inquiry. “We have recorded the statements of two resort staff as part of preliminary investigation. They deposed that three persons, including an old man, had stayed there for three days,” said the SI. However, the issue has put cops in a fix as there is no recording of CCTV visuals. “There are eight CCTV cameras installed in the resort. However, they could retrieve only files that are up to three days old. The judge left the resort on June 14, five days ago. Hence it is difficult to retrieve the data,” an officer said.