The Special Court for CBI Cases extended till September 8 the judicial custody of M Manu Neethi Cholan, Registrar of Companies (Chennai), who is facing bribery charges.

He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday on charges of accepting bribe from MAM Ramaswamy, of the Chettinad House.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Principal Special Judge J Krishnamoorthy, said orders would be passed on September 1 on two petitions filed by the agency seeking to interrogate Cholan and opposing his bail.

The advocate for CBI argued Cholan is a ‘habitual offender’ and should not be given bail as he will tamper with documents and evidence.

A senior official of the agency told the court that Cholan and Ramaswamy, previously the chairman of the Chettinad group, conspired to prevent a rival group from taking control. On receiving information from a reliable source about Cholan demanding ₹10 lakh ‘illegal gratification’ from Ramaswamy, agency officials intercepted Cholan’s car when it came out of Ramaswamy’s house.

They found over ₹10 lakh cash in the car. Cholan could not give satisfactory explanation about the source of the money and refused to cooperate further with the agency, said the official who sought judicial custody for interrogation.

At the annual general meeting of Chettinad Cements on Wednesday shareholders voted out Ramaswamy from the post of director of the company. According to a resolution in the notice of the AGM, he had sought reappointment, but shareholders moved an amended resolution that said he will not be reappointed. The company’s managing director MAMR Muthiah, also the adopted son of Ramaswamy, announced that he will be the Chairman Emeritus for life.

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