Justice (retired) CS Karnan evaded arrest since May 9 (PTI photo)
Former High Court judge CS Karnan will land in Kolkata shortly and will be taken straight to the city's Presidency Jail. His request to suspend a six-month prison sentence for contempt of court was rejected this morning by the Supreme Court.
Justice (retired) Karnan was arrested from a resort in Coimbatore's Malumichampatti in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday evening. He evaded arrest since May 9, when he was sentenced, and the West Bengal police said he had been hiding at the private resort for the past few days.
The police traced him by tracking his mobile phone calls and three teams of cops from Kolkata were camped in Coimbatore, about 55 km from state capital Chennai. When they reached the resort, the 62-year-old former judge, who retired earlier this month, tried to resist arrest.
"He resisted our officers and there was an argument also. Despite that, we arrested him," said a senior police officer. The West Bengal police were helped by their counterparts in Tamil Nadu, who gave crucial technical support to help arrest the former judge.
On May 9, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, had asked the West Bengal Director General of Police to take Justice (retired) Karnan into custody; he had by then been on the warpath with the Supreme Court for several months.
He had flown to Chennai hours before the Supreme Court order and held a defiant press conference there. But by the time cops from Kolkata reached Chennai to arrest him, the former judge had left to city for Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh.
He evaded arrest using false names to hide in resorts and switched cellphone numbers to avoid being tracked down.
Justice (retired) Karnan was transferred last year from Chennai to Kolkata and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee accusing senior judges of corruption.
The Supreme Court ordered him to appear in person. He did so once, but did not appear again. He "held court" in Kolkata passing counter orders against Supreme Court judges, also ordering their arrest.