The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up senior Tamil Nadu IPS officer A Arun (IPS:1998:TN) for his handling of a preventive detention case while agreeing to expunge adverse remarks made by the Madras High Court against him after he tendered an unconditional apology.
The top court, however, observed that the powers of preventive detention must be exercised with great circumspection by the public authority.
IPS officer A Arun is currently serving as the Director of the Tamil Nadu Police Academy.
While accepting his apology for an error committed by him while passing a detention order, a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, R. Mahadevan and Aparesh Kumar Singh directed the adverse observations made against him by the Madras HC be expunged. However, the apex court upheld the HC’s order quashing the detention.
The case relates to a detention order issued by Arun under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1982, when he was serving as Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, classifying the respondent’s father as a ‘Goonda’ following allegations of cheating in a real estate transaction involving more than ₹1.38 crore.
The detention was based on allegations that the detenue and his wife, who were directors of a real estate company, had cheated a buyer by not handing over the apartment despite execution of the agreements and payment of about 1.38 crore. The property was subsequently allegedly transferred to third parties and mortgaged using allegedly forged documents.
A criminal case was registered against the duo, leading to their arrest on September 1, 2025.
The detenue’s daughter then challenged the detention order before the Madras High Court, which set it aside, while making adverse observations against the IPS officer in its judgment. The HC observed that he was habitual in passing such orders and criticised his appointment as the Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
Arun approached the Supreme Court seeking expunction of the adverse observations and tendered an unconditional apology for the error committed while exercising his statutory powers.
While accepting his apology, the top court cautioned him that senior police officers must fully appreciate the responsibility attached to the exercise of statutory powers, particularly those affecting personal liberty.
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