MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has granted anticipatory bail to R V Ashok Kumar, brother of former DMK minister V Senthil Balaji, in connection with a batch of cases booked by Karur district police for allegedly preventing I-T department officials from carrying out search operations against the then minister on May 26, 2023.
While granting the relief, Justice P Dhanabal stated that the allegation against the petitioner was that he had induced the other accused to commit the offence and also abetted to commit the offence, however, he is not the named accused in the First Information Report. The search operation was also completed, he noted.
The alleged incident took place in the year 2023, and by now material part of the investigation might have been completed. Also, bail was granted in those cases and further custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required, the judge said.
Further, the judge directed Ashok Kumar to report before the police station concerned every Saturday for four weeks. The trial court can take appropriate action if he violated the conditions, the judge added.
