Senthilbalaji seeks ₹35 crore anticipatory bail in MLA bribery case

Former DMK minister and sitting Coimbatore South MLA V. Senthilbalaji approached the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the TVK MLA bribery case.

The anticipatory bail application is expected to come up for hearing before Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan, who holds the MP/MLA portfolio, on Wednesday (July 8), when an anticipatory bail application filed by Mr Senthilbalaji’s brother RV Ashok Kumar in the same case is also expected to be heard.

In his petition, the former minister claimed that his name did not figure in the FIR registered by the Greater Chennai Police regarding the alleged bribe offered to the MLA and yet the police tried to implicate him in the case for political motives.

The case relates to an FIR registered by the Triplicane police in Chennai on June 30 following a complaint filed by TVK MLA N. Elaiyaraja, representing Uthangarai constituency, on June 29. The MLA alleged that he was offered a bribe of ₹35 crore.

According to the complainant, he received a phone call on June 26. The caller identified himself as Thirunavukarasu of a private entity called Indian Political Democratic Strategies, involved in conducting political surveys, and insisted on a personal meeting with the MLA to discuss an “irresistible offer from an important party”.

However, the MLA reportedly told the caller that it would not be possible to meet him in person and asked him to continue the discussion over the phone. The caller continued to insist on meeting the MLA in person and forced her to end the call. Thereafter, the MLA received several calls from the same number over WhatsApp but did not pick up.

Finally, when the MLA picked up one of these calls, the caller allegedly told her that “the TVK-led government will not last long”. The caller also said that there was a plan to move a resolution against Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar and that the MLA would get ₹35 crore if he agreed to vote against the TVK whip when the resolution was moved in the House.

The MLA was also told that three others — Naresh, Krishnan and Ashok Kumar — would meet him if he agreed to the deal. The lawmaker claimed that when he said he was not willing to agree to such a deal, the caller threatened him and his family members with consequences if their conversation was leaked.

Following the threatening phone call, the MLA filed a complaint along with screenshots of WhatsApp call history on his mobile phone. The Greater Chennai Police conducted a preliminary investigation based on the complaint and then registered an FIR against all the four named persons under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and also under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023.

Published – 08 Jul 2026 0:13 IST