The Madras High Court has upheld the cancellation of bail granted to a man facing an extortion case, holding that social media posts portraying him as a feared “king” while holding what appeared to be a weapon could create an atmosphere of intimidation for witnesses.
Justice N Ramesh observed that the manner in which the accused was publicly portrayed on Instagram had a direct bearing on the pending trial, particularly because several prosecution witnesses were yet to give evidence.
The Court noted that the pages carrying the posts were followed by thousands of people and presented the accused as the “king” of Vellore, with a weapon-like object in his hand.
According to the Court, such public projection raised a genuine concern that witnesses could feel overawed and hesitate to testify freely.
The proceedings concerned Janny alias Janny Paulrajan, who is facing trial in a case involving allegations of extortion and setting fire to property.
The High Court had granted him bail in December 2025 after he had spent around five years in custody. His release was delayed for several weeks because he was also facing arrest in other criminal cases, and he eventually came out of prison in January 2026.
The matter returned to the spotlight after the Katpadi Police registered another case in June 2026 following information from a social media monitoring cell about photographs and videos allegedly showing Janny with weapons.
He was subsequently arrested in Andhra Pradesh, where police said he had attended a birthday gathering involving more than 200 people.
The prosecution then sought cancellation of his bail before the trial court. That court accepted the plea, citing the alleged involvement in a fresh serious offence along with his criminal antecedents as evidence that the bail conditions had been misused.
Janny challenged that order before the High Court.
His defence maintained that the photographs and videos were taken during a personal trip and that the object visible in his hand was merely an air gun used at a balloon-shooting stall. It was also argued that there had been no attempt to threaten witnesses or interfere with evidence following his release.
The High Court, however, said the issue could not be reduced to whether the object was actually a firearm.
The Court specifically clarified that it was not determining whether the object was a firearm, whether the allegations in the subsequent criminal case would ultimately stand, or who was responsible for operating the Instagram pages. Those questions, it said, would have to be dealt with during investigation and trial.
What mattered at the bail stage, the Court held, was the potential impact of the public portrayal on witnesses who still had to appear before the trial court.
Justice Ramesh held that the circumstances showed that the liberty earlier granted to the accused had been misused and that allowing him to remain on bail could undermine the fairness of the ongoing proceedings.
The High Court therefore sustained the cancellation of bail, while observing that portions of the trial court’s reasoning contained shortcomings.
It also directed the trial court to complete the proceedings within six months and, as far as practicable, conduct the hearing on a day-to-day basis.
The Vellore Superintendent of Police was further directed to examine the Instagram pages and other similar accounts allegedly portraying the accused as a person to be feared or followed.
The Court remarked that publicly celebrating an individual facing serious criminal proceedings as a “king” while displaying a weapon-like object could give criminality an unwarranted aura, particularly when such material reaches a predominantly young audience.
The bail cancellation order was accordingly left undisturbed.