The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed petitions filed by DMK leader and former minister V. Senthil Balaji and his brother Ashok Kumar, who sought directions to prevent the police from allegedly harassing them in the name of searches and interrogation.
In their pleas, the petitioners referred to a case registered over alleged “horse-trading” involving Uthangarai MLA Ilaiyaraja, in which they said the High Court had granted them conditional anticipatory bail and that they were ready to comply with the conditions.
They also claimed that Minister Aadhav Arjuna had publicly spoken about “settling scores” in connection with the Karur crowd incident, and alleged that instructions had been issued to arrest them in some case. Stating that they were not obstructing any lawful investigation, they sought a direction that police issue proper notices if their presence was required in any pending probe.
After hearing both sides, Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan observed that while anticipatory bail had been granted in the horse-trading case, the petitioners had not yet surrendered and obtained bail. In these circumstances, the court held it could not issue the directions sought and dismissed the petitions.
