Police summon Balaji brothers in MLA poaching case

TIRUCHY: Chennai police on Saturday served summonses meant for former minister V Senthilbalaji and his brother Ashok Kumar to their parents at their residence in Karur after the siblings allegedly evaded appearance in connection with the alleged Rs 35-crore horse-trading case.

The summons, handed over to Senthilbalaji's parents Velusamy and Palaniammal at their Rameshwaram Patti residence, directed the brothers to appear before the Triplicane police on July 6 at 1 pm. Police obtained the signatures of both parents acknowledging receipt of the summons. Sources said the duo is expected to appear before the Triplicane police soon.

The case stems from a complaint lodged by Uthangarai MLA N Elaiyaraja with Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A Amalraj, alleging that he was offered Rs 35 crore to resign from his MLA post, defect to the DMK, and threatened when he refused. Acting on the complaint, the Commissioner directed the Triplicane police to register a case and investigate.

A special investigation team subsequently arrested YouTuber Thirunavukkarasu from Arumbakkam on Tuesday (June 30), followed by Naresh from Tiruchy and Thiyagarajan from Medavakkam based on information gathered during the probe.

According to police, the three allegedly told investigators during interrogation that they had been assigned the task by Senthilbalaji, Ashok Kumar and a few of their associates. Based on these statements, the special team later secured Athiban Ramesh and Karthik from Karur and took them to Chennai for questioning.

Police had earlier attempted to serve the summons directly on Senthilbalaji and Ashok Kumar, but were unable to locate them, so they served the notices through their parents.