Madurai (Tamil Nadu): An elderly man, who filed a petition before the Judicial Magistrate (JM) Court at Melur in Madurai district in 2017, stating that popular Tamil actor Dhanush was his biological son and sought a monthly maintenance from him, died of illness on Friday night.
Family sources said here on Saturday that R.Kathiresan (72), who fell sick due to various health issues was recently admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai, where he died without responding to the treatment.
It may be recalled that Kathiresan and his wife Meenakshi (60) of Malampatti village in Melur Taluk of Madurai district, claimed him (Dhanush) to be their third son K.Kalaichelvan, who dropped out of Class XI in 2002, went to Chennai to pursue his interest in acting and changed his screen name to Dhanush.
They also demanded DNA tests on Dhanush to prove their paternity claim and sought monthly maintenance of Rs 65,000 from him, as he had failed to take care of them.
Denying their claim, Dhanush moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking to quash the case and also opposed the DNA test plea, not because he had something to hide, but because his integrity and right to privacy should not be tested at the instance of people who file frivolous cases.
Dhanush said he was born to Tamil film director R.Krishnamoorthy and K.Vijayalakshmi in Chennai on July 28, 1983 and was named as R.K.Vengadesha Prabhu. He further said his father and he had changed their names to Kasthoori Raja and Dhanush K.Raja respectively and notified them in the gazette.
He also relied upon a copy of ration card issued to his family in 2005 that contains the names of his parents, brothers and sisters and himself.
Based on the submissions of Dhanush, the HC Bench Judge P.N.Prakash on April 21, 2017 rejected the couple’s demand as false and quashed the maintenance case.