CHENNAI: The alleged plan to poach MLAs from ruling TVK involved not merely politicians from opposition DMK but a corporate entity was also part of the plot, claimed Greater Chennai Police, adding that the company readied a war chest of Rs 180 crore to execute the plan.
Meanwhile, senior DMK leader V Senthilbalaji’s brother V Ashok Kumar, who, the police said was involved in the plan, approached the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail on Friday (July 3).
Revealing details about the information that the police gathered during their investigation, Thanthi TV said in a report that the accused arrested in the case were staying in star hotels in Guindy and East Coast Road to hatch the plan in secret.
Their stay in the star hotel in Guindy was paid for by a corporate company, said the report, adding that the firm had allocated Rs 180 crore of its own funds to purchase TVK MLAs. The group involved in the execution of the plan had allegedly contacted a few legislators.
Most of them declined the offer, while one of them, N Ilayaraja, the TVK legislator from Uthangarai in Krishnagiri, approached the Chennai city police Commissioner on Monday (June 29) stating that he was approached by a man, identified as Thirunavukkarasu, with the offer to pay him Rs 35 crore to vote against Tamil Nadu Speaker JCD Prabhakar.
After the matter came to light, the Triplicane police registered a case and arrested Thirunavukkarasu of Arumbakkam, who claimed to run a survey firm, and his alleged accomplices, Naresh of Tiruchy and Thiagarajan of Medavakkam.
Based on the information they allegedly gave, the investigators claimed that influential DMK leader V Senthilbalaji and his brother V Ashok Kumar are the key forces behind the plot against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government.
Later on Thursday (July 2), the police arrested Selvan (54) of Pallikaranai, Srinivasan (46) of Manapakkam, Rajesh (43) of Hastinapuram, Ramesh (45) of Karur, and Karthik (43) of Karur. The police said Karthik runs a famous eatery in Karur, Senthilbalaji’s native, and added that he was close to the former minister.
Meanwhile, fearing police action in the case, Ashok Kumar approached the Madras High Court with an anticipatory bail plea. In the petition, he alleged that the whole allegation was part of the political conspiracy against him, and added that he had no connection with the alleged plot to destabilise the State government.
The petition is expected to come up for hearing before Justice C Kumarappan, said another Thanthi TV report.