Kerala HC direction to police not to arrest BJP MP

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The Kerala High Court today directed police not to arrest BJP MP and actor Suresh Gopi for a further period of 10 days in connection with the probe into a case of alleged forging of documents to get his two luxury cars registered in Puducherry to evade vehicle tax in Kerala.

Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan gave the direction while considering the anticipatory bail plea moved by Gopi. The judge then posted the matter for further hearing to January 9. The prosecution said Gopi was using the vehicles in the state evading payment of tax.

Gopi, who filed the anticipatory bail plea on December 12, informed the court that he was prepared to fully cooperate with the investigation team. Earlier, following the court direction the Rajya Sabha MP appeared before the police in connection with the probe.

Police had registered a FIR against the actor on December 5, charging him with falsifying and fabricating documents by showing an address in the union territory and getting the vehicles registered there, causing revenue loss to the state government.

The FIR is pending before the chief judicial magistrate court, Thiruvananthapuram. In his plea, Gopi said the allegations prima facie were false. He said he had chosen to register the two vehicles at Puducherry, where he owns agricultural land which was being looked after by family members, including his brothers.

The actor said he has a house in Bengaluru and his brothers have residences in Coimbatore and Tuticorin, so the vehicles were frequently used to ply within these states. Police have said the actor-turned-politician used a fake residential address to register his luxury vehicles in Puducherry to evade the 20 per cent tax in Kerala on luxury cars costing Rs 20 lakh and above.

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