CHENNAI: In a big reprieve for former minister and DMK leader V Senthil Balaji, the Madras High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to him and his brother, RV Ashok Kumar, in the case relating to the alleged bid to poach TVK’s Uthangarai MLA Dr N Ilaiyaraja.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan granted the relief on the pre-arrest bail pleas filed by Senthil Balaji and Ashok Kumar. The judge directed the brothers to appear before the investigating officer twice daily and sign the papers.
“The FIR was registered by the Triplicane police on a complaint lodged by the MLA, alleging that he was offered `35 crore by certain persons, including Tirunavukkarasu of IDPS, for voting against the Speaker when a motion against him would be moved in the House.
The state government also added that the accused had planned to influence 10 MLAs by offering them Rs 35 crore each and Rs 5 crore as brokerage.
Charges against Balaji based on presumption, says advocate
A hawala trail in Bengaluru linked to the case has also been unearthed by investigators, the prosecution said. The police have arrested nine people so far. Although summonses were served to Senthil Balaji and his brother to appear before the police, they chose not to.
When the anticipatory bail petitions came up for hearing, senior counsel NR Elango, appearing for Senthil Balaji, submitted that all the allegations against his client are based on “presumption”.
He denied the allegation in the FIR that there was an attempt to bring down the government. Even if, according to the prosecution’s case, the speaker was removed from office, it would not result in the government being toppled, he argued, adding that Senthil Balaji had been implicated for “political reasons”.
Appearing for Ashok Kumar, senior counsel P Kumaresan submitted that his client was implicated in cases whenever his brother was booked by the police.
Denying the allegation that Ashok Kumar was behind the alleged attempt to poach the TVK MLA, the counsel also questioned why the complaint was lodged only two days after the MLA was allegedly contacted over the phone and offered `35 crore.
Explaining the DMK’s strength in the Assembly and the numbers required to form a government on its own, he argued that any such exercise would require between `4,000 crore and `5,000 crore.
