Madras HC grants anticipatory bail to DMK's V Senthil Balaji in alleged MLA bribery case

Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan passed the order directing both Senthil Balaji and Ashok Kumar to appear before the police daily as a condition of their anticipatory bail.

After Senthil Balaji got bail, DMK advocate and Rajya Sabha MP NR Elango told ANI, "We have explained to the court that there is an inordinate delay in lodging the complaint. Though the alleged offer of the bribe was on June 26, the complaint was given only on June 29, and there was no explanation for the delay. These 2 days could have been and were used in fact, for the purpose of elaborating, putting the necessary ingredients of the offence in the FIR and foisting a case against them. This is a case where the offer was only to vote against the motion of the speaker and nothing to do with toppling the government. Today, the prosecution has omitted that word of toppling the government. That shows whatever we have put before the principal session judge has been realised by the police."

A fresh "horse-trading" row began in Tamil Nadu after TVK MLA N Elaiyaraja claimed that he was offered Rs 35 crore and threatened to influence his vote in a legislative resolution, following which police registered a case and arrested three persons, officials said earlier.

According to the complaint filed on June 29 with the Police Commissioner, Greater Chennai, Elaiyaraja stated that a person named Thirunavukkarasu contacted him and claimed to be running an opinion polling organisation called Indian Political Democratic Strategies (IPDS), saying he was reaching out at the request of members of a major political party.

Further investigation, as per the complaint, revealed that V Ashok Kumar, brother of former DMK minister and current MLA for Coimbatore South V Senthil Balaji, had met the accused Naresh in Chennai. It was also stated that Thirunavukkarasu acted on instructions allegedly linked to V Senthil Balaji and V Ashok Kumar.

The complainant alleged that Thirunavukkarasu asked the TVK MLA to vote in a particular manner during a proposed resolution against the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and offered him up to Rs 35 crore as inducement.

Following the complaint, a case was registered at the D1 Triplicane Police Station. Police arrested Thirunavukkarasu of Arumbakkam, Chennai, along with Naresh of Tiruchirappalli and Thiyagarajan of Medavakkam, Chennai, who were allegedly involved in the conspiracy.

The 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections marked a historic shift in state politics as TVK won 108 seats in its debut election, ending the decades-long dominance of the DMK and AIADMK formations.

Following the Victory, Vijay assumed charge at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat in Chennai shortly after taking the oath as the 13th Chief Minister of the state. (ANI)