Chennai, Jul 7 (IANS): AIADMK leader and former minister, M. Manikandan was granted conditional bail by the Madras High Court in the case related to the alleged rape of a Malaysian citizen on the promise of marriage. Manikandan was lodged in Puzhal central jail after he was arrested on June 20.

Justice Nirmal Kumar of the Madras High Court granted conditional bail on Wednesday to the former minister who is also a medical doctor and directed him to surrender his passport before the investigating officer and to appear before the officer in person every two weeks.

In his petition Manikandan said that the Malaysian actor was well aware that he was a married man and that he cannot marry her when she was alive and obtaining divorce was not entirely in his hands. The former minister said that even if the allegation leveled against him was taken at face value, it would not attract offense under Section 375 (rape) of the IPC.

The former minister in his bail plea had said that the relationship with the Malaysian actor was one between two consenting adults. Manikandan in his plea said, "This is not a case where the so-called victim is a teenaged girl or an illiterate or rustic woman, instead she is well educated and employed in a good position."