More trouble arose for the TTV Dhinakaran faction on Monday, with sleuths from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arriving at Coorg in Karnataka to arrest former State Transport Minister Senthil Balaji.
The arrests were in connection with allegations of cheating against the MLA, reports TNIE.
According to reports, a complaint from V Ganesh Kumar of Ambattur led the CCB to register a case under 'sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) IPC, against Balaji and his relatives Prabhu, Sahaya Rajan and Anna Raj'.
When the special team from the CCB arrived at the resort however, the MLA was not present amongst the other rebel leaders.
Ganesh Kumar had allegedly given Rs 95 lakh in instalments to Balaji when he was the Transport Minister. The minister had promised to get him and his friends jobs in the transport department. He had reportedly given the money in 2014 and 2015 at his residence. Balaji had allegedly collected money with similar promises from 40 persons between the years 2011 and 2015.
His arrest would be yet another blow to the Dhinakaran faction that is already facing the wrath of the government.
On Monday, MLAs supporting TTV Dhinakaran were disqualified from the Tamil Nadu Assembly. According to a release from the TN Secretariat, the 18 AIADMK MLAs who were supporting the ousted leader after the EPS-OPS factions merged, were disqualified as per Schedule 10 of the Constitution, and under the TN MLAs (Disqualification due to Defection) Act, 1986.
Thangatamizhchelvan (Andipatti), R Murugan (Aroor), Mariappan Kennedy (Manamadurai), Kathirgamu (Periyakulam), C Jayanthi Padmanabhan (Gudiyatham), P Pazhaniyappan (Papireddypatti), V Senthil Balaji (Aravakurichi), Dr S Muthiah (Paramakudi), P Vetrivel (Peramboor), NG Parthiban (Sholingar), M Kothandapani (Tiruporur), TA Ezhumalai (Poonamallee), M Rangasamy (Thanjavur), R Thangadurai (Nilakottai), R Balasubramani (Ambur), Edhirkottai SG Subramanian (Sathur), R Kandaraj (Ottapidaram), and K Uma Maheshwari (Vilathikulam) were the 18 MLAs who were disqualified according to a release from the Secretariat.