Chennai court issues NBW against DMDK leader Vijayakanth in journalist assault case

Chennai: A magistrate court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable warrant against DMDK leader and Tamil actor Vijayakanth in connection with a criminal case against him for allegedly attempting to assault a journalist.

Since the actor-turned politician failed to appear before the court even after repeated summons, Alandur judicial magistrate N Sultan Aribeen issued the warrant against him.

In 2012, on a complaint from a reporter of a Tamil television channel, the Airport Police registered a case against Vijayakanth and then DMDK MLA Murugan for attempting to hit the journalist during a press briefing at the airport.

The Judicial Magistrate Court, Alandur, commenced the trial and subsequently granted bail to Vijayakanth and the former MLA, based on a direction from the Madras High Court.

Meanwhile, when the case came up for hearing on 16 November, Vijayakanth failed to appear before the court. Directing him to be present during the next hearing, the court had then adjourned the case to 5 December.

But when the plea came up for hearing on Tuesday, counsel for Vijayakanth submitted that he had gone to Singapore for a medical check-up.

Refusing to accept the submission, the magistrate issued the warrant and adjourned the case to 13 February for further hearing.