The Tamil Film Producers’ Council has strongly condemned the arrest of director Saran on a cheque fraud case. Addressing the media at a hastily convened press meet this morning, Vikraman, T Siva, Pyramid Natarajan and Jaguar Thangam declared that the case was unfairly heaped on Saran. “We are not trying to obstruct the course of justice. On the contrary, we are only trying to point out the big flaws in this case. For starters, the arrest warrant that the Sivakasi police had with them was procured over two years ago. Why did the police wait so long to carry out the order? We strongly believe that this case has been brought out now to tarnish the image of Saran,” opined T Siva of Vendhar Movies. He also claimed that the petitioner, Gunasekaran of Sapphire Litho, had allegedly doctored the cheques provided by Saran. “Saran gave Gunasekaran a cheque for Rs 10 lakhs for printing the posters of Muni. Gunasekaran had doctored it to make it read Rs 50 lakhs and is now claiming that he was duped. Even if someone prints posters for the entire state, the cost won’t be that great. The police should look into this and carry out necessary action.”
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Vikraman revealed that the council had been in contact with Gunasekaran through out the day and had even offered to intervene and set up a meeting to discuss the issue amicably. But all such offers were rejected, he said. “We asked Gunasekaran and the police to not arrest Saran during shoot. Would you arrest a priest in front of the temple? There are laws against that sort of thing. Saran has been in Tirunelveli for quite some time. They could have taken him away from the hotel or even from his home in Chennai.Why would you arrest somebody from his workplace unless you want publicity?” He also alleged that when contacted initially, Gunasekaran had claimed that he had arrest warrants against 30 other producers. “What kind of a man says that? This is pure blackmail. First, he overcharges for the work he does and then he tries to systematically destroy the man who gave him that work. This should be investigated and punished!”
The Producers’ Council has decided to meet the Police Commissioner to register their grievance and make sure that Saran gets a fair trial, if there is one.