₹35 crore bribe offer to TVK MLA: Former minister Senthil Balaji’s brother Ashok Kumar seeks anticipatory bail

Former DMK minister V. Senthil Balaji’s brother V. Ashok Kumar has moved the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered against him for allegedly trying to offer a bribe of ₹35 crore to TVK MLA N. Elaiyaraja from the Uthangarai constituency.

The anticipatory bail plea has been listed for hearing before Justice C. Kumarappan during the second half of Friday. The Triplicane police had booked Balaji and Kumar and had registered the FIR. Based on Elaiyaraja’s complaint filed on June 29, the Triplicane police arrested three people.

In his complaint, Elaiyaraja had said that he received a phone call from a person called Thirunavukarasu on June 26. Thirunavukarasu identified himself as the founder of a private firm called Indian Political Democratic Strategies (IPDS), which was into conducting political surveys. The complaint further says that Thirunavukkarasu insisted that he wanted to meet him in person to discuss an offer from an important political party. Elaiyaraja insisted that he could continue over the phone, and meeting in person was not possible. The caller then disconnected the call, and thereafter, Elaiyaraja received several calls and messages over WhatsApp.

Later, the MLA picked one of the calls. And Thirunavkkarasu reportedly told him that the TVK government will not last long and that there was a plan to move a resolution against assembly speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar. He said the MLA will be offered ₹35 crore if he agrees to vote in favour of the resolution when it is moved in the house. The complaint further says that the others -Naresh, Krishnan, and Ashok Kumar will meet him if he agrees to the deal. Elaiyaraja further noted in his complaint that he was threatened by the caller that he and his family members would face the consequences if he declined the deal. Later, based on the threatening phone call, Elaiyaraja filed a complaint with the Triplicane police station with screenshots of the phone calls and the messages.

Kumar sought anticipatory bail, claiming he did not have any role in the crime and there was no allegation in the complaint of his having spoken to the MLA directly. He said he had been named in the FIR only because the caller mentioned his name. He further said the police cannot be allowed to arrest him and search for incriminating materials without any specific warrant. In his petition, Kumar claimed that the complaint had been lodged with a political motive and “it was a part of a scheme to influence voters ahead of the by-election to the Karur assembly constituency.”