The Madras High Court has appointed its former judge K. Chandru as a Commissioner to sell vast properties belonging to 40-year-old mentally challenged Manoj Rajan whom the court had adopted in August 2016 by invoking the doctrine of loco parentis (in the place of a parent) since many had tried to cheat him after the death of his parents.
Justice P.N. Prakash, who had been following up the case of Mr. Rajan for the last four years by keeping him under foster care at Madurai-based MS Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation run by reputed psychiatrist C. Ramasubramanian, had appointed Justice K. Chandru to dispose of the properties and use the money to take care of him.
It was during the hearing of a petition alleging abduction of Mr. Rajan that Justice Prakash learnt about the mentally challenged man who had lost his mother at the age of 14. His wealthy father had got him married at the age of 29 but the wedlock did not last long as the woman decided to part ways and obtained divorce on mutual consent after citing his illness.
However, after Mr. Rajan’s father death in 2013, his former wife abducted him with the assistance of her associates and got remarried solely with the intention of grabbing the properties. However, a family friend rescued him and filed a case in court leading to Justice Prakash ordering a Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) inquiry.
Finding that a huge gang was waiting for an opportunity to usurp the properties of the hapless individual whose life could be at risk if the court does not step in to safeguard him, the judge ensured his safety handing him over to the trust in Madurai where he had developed a lot of skills over the last four years through the intervention of trained personnel.
