At the time, the area was a criminal hotbed and Shankar began transporting illegal liquor (prohibition being in force at the time), and Shankar soon realised that prostitution was more profitable with lower risks, due to its association with politically influential people who could keep the police in check.
An incident in which a rival gangster named Babu was murdered in the early 1980s, and which was ultimately covered up led Shankar to focus more on prostitution.
At the end of June, Sampath's wife Vijaya filed a complaint with Mylapore police that her husband was missing and Shankar could be responsible.
She was advised to file a complaint with Thiruvanmiyur police instead, who arrested Shankar on charges of causing a nuisance and released him.
In 1992, Shankar's five accomplices were sentenced to six months of Rigorous Imprisonment after having been found guilty by the Chengai-Anna District Judge N. Mohandoss.
The accomplices were Shankar's brother, Mohan, Selva (alias Selvaraj) and the jail wardens Kannan, Balan and Rahim Khan.
K. Vijay Kumar, the Tamil Nadu Additional Director-General of Police, claimed that cinema was solely responsible for making Shankar a criminal.
The trial has become widely known across the nation since the Supreme Court invoked the American free speech doctrine and the case became oft-quoted in relation to journalistic exposés.