MADURAI: While orthopedic surgeon L Prakash, infamously known as ‘porn doctor’, has been released after serving around 13 years in jail in a 2001 pornography case, his brother and key accomplice in the case Pradeep Lakshmanan still remains out of bounds for Tamil Nadu police.
Pradeep is settled in the United States, where adult pornography is not a crime, even as the website of Central Bureau of Investigation still carries the Interpol Red Alert notice issued against him in the year 2002.
The present Deputy Inspector General of Police of Tirunelveli Range S Murugan, who oversaw the case during the trial process, said Pradeep has taken refuge in the extradition process between the US and India.
“As per the treaties India has with most countries, a person can be extradited only if the offence is punishable in both the countries. In this case, adult pornography is not punishable in the US,” he said. The police will be able to arrest Pradeep only if he moves out of the US, he added.
Prakash was arrested along with a few of his assistants in 2001 on charges of shooting pornographic videos and images of men and women, predominantly his employees and patients, in his bungalows and uploading it on websites through his brother.
The case became sensational due to the involvement of a doctor and as it was the time when pornographic websites were catching up in India through the sprouting browsing centres.
The brothers allegedly made a fortune by selling the videos through websites registered in the US, some of which are still believed to be active.
According to the police, while Prakash shot the pornographic videos to serve his pervert intentions, Pradeep was the mastermind behind the idea of uploading it to websites to rake in the moolah. The videos were allegedly sent by Prakash as CDs to the US, where Pradeep uploaded them on the websites he managed.
Prakash and three of his associates were convicted in the case in 2008.