CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai City Police on Wednesday included DMK strongman and ex-minister and sitting Coimbatore South MLA V Senthil Balaji and his brother V Ashok Kumar, and arrested five more persons in connection with an alleged Rs 35-crore bribery and intimidation bid targeting TVK Uthangarai MLA Dr N Elaiyaraja, which triggered a political storm.
This comes a day after the police arrested three persons—with alleged links with the duo—for their bid to induce Elaiyaraja to vote against Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar in an upcoming Assembly resolution.
A senior police officer said, “We have added the names of Senthil Balaji and Ashok Kumar in the case based on an inquiry. A probe is under way to ascertain their exact roles in the case.”
The five men arrested on Thursday were identified as Selvan (54), Ramesh (45), Karthik (43), Rajesh (43) and Srinivasan (46). Sources said Karthik runs a hotel in Karur. After an inquiry, all five were remanded, taking the total number of arrests in the politically significant case to eight.
During the investigation, the police found Karthik and Ramesh had held meetings with Naresh at star hotels along the East Coast Road (ECR), where they allegedly sought the support of TVK MLAs for a proposed no-confidence motion against the speaker in the Assembly, offering Rs 35 crore in return. The police said Naresh later, through his friend Thiyagarajan, invited Srinivasan, Selvan and Rajesh to a star hotel in Guindy, where they allegedly conspired over the proposed move.
According to Elaiyaraja, the complainant, Thirunavukkarasu had first contacted him in the fourth week of June, claiming to represent Indian Political Democratic Strategies (IPDS), a political opinion polling firm and informed the TVK MLA that he was reaching out on behalf of leaders of a major political party and sought a personal meeting. The MLA declined citing commitments.
In subsequent attempts Thirunavukkarasu offered Elaiyaraja Rs 35 crore to vote against the Speaker in the proposed Assembly resolution despite being a member of the ruling alliance.
When Elaiyaraja rejected the offer and warned him not to contact him again, Thirunavukkarasu threatened him against disclosing the conversation.
During the investigation, the police claimed they found that Thirunavukkarasu was acting in coordination with Naresh and Thyagarajan.
The inquiry further revealed that Thirunavukkarasu had contacted and threatened the MLA on the instructions of Senthil Balaji and Ashok Kumar. Ashok Kumar had also met Naresh in Chennai, a senior police officer said.
The case was registered under Sections 61(2)(a) and 351(3) of the BNS and under Sections 8 and 12 of The Prevention of Corruption Act.
