CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a report on the status of the case regarding the seizure of Rs 89 core during the RK Nagar bypolls held in 2017 after the demise of J Jayalalithaa.
The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu issued the direction when a petition filed by Marudhu Ganesh of DMK, who had contested against TTV Dhinakaran in the polls, came up for hearing. The bench adjourned the matter to October 18 for further hearing.
During the bypolls campaign, the Income Tax (I-T) department conducted searches at the house of the health minister C Vijayabaskar and seized Rs 89 crore meant for distribution to voters and certain documents showing involvement of senior AIADMK leaders, including then chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Based on the instructions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), an FIR was filed by the Abiramapuram police, which was later quashed by the high court. The Supreme Court had stayed all further proceedings in the matter.
Senior counsel P Wilson, appearing for the petitioner, wanted to know whether the state government would pursue an SLP pending before the Supreme Court regarding a probe by CBI. He also wanted to know whether the state government would file a petition before the high court seeking recall of the single judge’s order quashing the FIR on the seizure of cash.
The bench also wanted to know the stand of the government in the matter. State government pleader P Muthukumar informed the court that the state police have no bar, as such, for investigating the matter. However, he added, he would get instructions from the government and inform the court on these queries.