THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ploy by a man, accused of attempting to kill his wife, to evade arrest by producing a forged Kerala High Court order barring any coercive steps against him has turned out to be unsuccessful and he was arrested after the police found there was no such direction.

With a person claiming to be the accused man's lawyer and having produced the forged order before the police, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) P Narayanan has written to the High Court's Registrar General to take appropriate action in the matter.

The accused moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail on January 21 and on that date the court asked the public prosecutor to get instructions and listed his plea for hearing on February 2, the APP said in his letter.

The court had not issued any interim order protecting the accused, it added.

Thereafter, when he was apprehended on February 12, an advocate came to the police station and said there was an interim order by the high court not to take any coercive action against the accused.

The advocate also forwarded a printout of the case status of the bail plea of the accused to the SHO and in that it was stated no coercive steps be taken, the APP's letter said.

When the SHO verified the order from the high court website he found that no such protection has been granted and subsequently, the accused' arrest was recorded, the letter added. ''It appears that some malpractice has been committed in the matter and the printout of the case status produced before the police by the counsel for the accused was a forged one. In the above circumstances, it is requested that appropriate action may be taken in the matter,'' APP Narayanan has said in his letter.