Chennai, July 25:
In his first public appearance after the Rs 35 crore ruling TVK MLA bribery row surfaced linking him and his brother RV Ashok Kumar in the case, DMK strongman and former Minister V. Senthilbalaji appeared before the Principal Sessions Court on Friday to comply with the bail conditions.
Senthilbalaji, the incumbent MLA from Coimbatore South Assembly constituency, accompanied by his advocates, appeared before Principal Sessions Judge S. Karthikeyan and executed a personal bond for Rs 25,000 and two sureties for a likesum as per the conditions laid down by the Madras High Court while granting advance bail to him and his brother.
Senthilbalaji’s appearance before the court comes two days after the High Court had on July 22 dismissed petitions filed by him and his brother seeking a direction to the police not to harass them in the name of investigations into the MLA bribery case in an attempt to topple the government headed by Chief Minister Vijay. They also claimed that there were attempts to arrest them in other cases and requested that police be directed to issue proper notices before summoning them for inquiry.
Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan noted that although anticipatory bail had been granted in the bribery case, the petitioners had not yet surrendered and fulfilled the conditions, while noting that their apprehensions of possible arrest in future cases was premature and dismssed their pleas.
Earlier on July 8, Mr Justice Ilanthriyan had granted conditional advance bail to Senthilbalaji and his brother in the bribery case on the condition that both of them should appear before the Invesgation Officer at the Triplicane police station twice a day until further orders and cooperate with the investigation.
However, as the ex-DMK Minister failed to comply with the bail conditions and has not appeared before the police, there were allegations that he has absconded. However, Senthilbalaji wrote to the police stating he has not absconded and that his name does not figure in the FIR in the case. He had sent the letter through his counsel in response to a summons directing him to appear before the Investigation Officer for an inquiry.
According to reports his name has been included in the additional case records.
The poaching row came to light after a TVK MLA Ilayaraja claimed that a pollster, Thirunuvukkarasu, approached him at the instance of Senthilbalaji and his brother with a Rs 35 crore bribe offer to switch sides during voting on the resolution against the Assembly Speaker. The poaching of the MLA was seen as a plot to topple the two-month-old government of Chief Minister Vijay.
Adding a new twist to the sensational case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) too has stepped in and is likely to probe the money laundering anglee The Entry of the central probe agency is expected to tighten the noose against Senthil Balaji, and his brother, who were linked to the case.
The ED has obtained copies of documents about the case from the Greater Chennai City Police, sources here said. This followed the seizure of Rs 60 lakh in unaccounted cash by the police from one of the arrested suspects, and also stumbled upon the involvement of a key person said to be currently in Singapore and has issued a Look out Circular against him. Lakshmana Perumal had allegedly
deleted WhatsApp messages linked to the negotiations and facilitated the removal of CCTV footages from the hotels where the meeting to hatch the poaching plot took place.
On a complaint lodged by the TVK legislator Dr.N.Elayaraja, representing the Uthangarai constituency in Krishnagiri district, police have arrested 14 people so far. Among those arrested included two proprietors of Deepam Finance with whom one of the arrested accused had entrusted advance money intended for bribing the TVK MLAs. During the searches conducted at the finance firm unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs.2,82,49,000 was recovered and seized, police said.
Police sources said interrogation of the key accused, pollster Thirunavukkaru revealed that he was in contact with a journo of a leading private Tamil TV channel and has exchanged details about the plot to destabilise the government under the plan code named “Meghalaya Project”.
Reports quoting police said the conspiracy was to induce at least 15 TVK MLAs with offers ranging from Rs 30 crore to Rs 35 crore each and the mediators were promised Rs five crore for every successful deal. The probe also revealed that Thirunavukkarasu also had links with hawala operatiors in Bengaluru, where police claimed to have unearthed startling and strong evidences, Chennai and Tiruppur and seized several incirminating material and digital evidences.
As the police have started digging deep into the case, the hawala operators, who have come under the scanner, would also be questioned to ascertain more details.