Madras High Court bench here today directed Paramakudi Police in Ramanathapuram district to take a woman petitioner to Tiruchirappalli Central Prison to find out whether her husband was lodged there or not.
Justice S Rajeswaran and Justice T Mathivanan, admitting a Habeas Corpus Petition filed by S Gomalatha to trace her missing husband, gave the direction to the police.
Gomalatha said her husband Rajagopal left for Sri Lanka on March 24, 2011 for business purpose. She was informed by her husband that he had planned to fly for Sri Lanka from Tiruchirappalli and stated that on reaching the airport he promised to call her over the phone.
Golmalatha said her husband did not call her and she was under the "bonafide impression" that he would have left Sri Lanka as planned by him. The petitioner said her husband did not contact her thereafter and his phone was not reachable.
The petitioner said she had contacted her relative Kumarasingam, a resident of Sri Lanka, over phone and requested him to search the whereabouts of her husband.
Later, Kumarasingam informed her that her husband had reached Sri Lanka on March 24 itself and due to some problem he had returned to Tiruchirappalli on the very next day from Colombo, she said.
Though he had left Colombo he had not returned to native place and his whereabouts was not known, she said and prayed the court to produce him in body.
Paramakudi police submitted that one Rajagopal alias Yogaraja was arrested on the charges for smuggling drugs and was currently lodged in the Tiruchirappalli Central Prison.
The Judges directed police to take Gomalatha to Tiruchirappalli Central prison and confirm the identity of the confined prisoner and to check whether he was the husband of the petitioner.
The Judges said a person could not be sent to jail without an order of a court and instructed the prosecution to find out on what charges her husband was confined. The case was posted for hearing to August 19.
