Observing that “even a minute’s illegal detention cannot be tolerated”, the Madras High Court has ordered the immediate, unconditional release of a police inspector arrested by the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) over allegations of extortion linked to a Rs 24-crore agreement to buy out a hospital partner’s stake.

The inspector was arrested on October 9 after one of the hospital partners had alleged that he was coerced into the settlement, under which he had paid Rs 5 crore and agreed to pay another Rs 19 crore. He claimed that the Rs 5 crore was intended for the inspector and his superiors.

Hearing the plea of the wife of the 46-year-old police inspector, Justices G R Swaminathan and P Murugan held that the inspector’s arrest and remand were illegal.…