The Madras High Court dismissed anticipatory bail petitions filed by former Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji in two cases filed against him for having allegedly cheated government job aspirants after receiving huge amounts of money from them.
Justice M. Nirmal Kumar refused to grant the relief after the State Public Prosecutor, Hasan Mohammed Jinnah, said the inquiry was in the preliminary stage, and the police had recorded the statements of several people who claimed to have given over ₹3 crore through multiple sources to secure government jobs.
The court was told that the first complaint was lodged on November 15 by S. Ravindran, the owner of an electronics shop, who had reportedly met the then Minister in October 2020 and given ₹30 lakh to his close associate Vijaya Nallathambi to secure the post of Aavin District Manager for his nephew. Though it was argued on behalf of the former Minister that Mr. Nallathambi was a person known for shifting loyalties from one political party to another, and was not reliable, the judge said that though the prime accused appeared to be involved in job racketeering since 2015, the second accused (former Minister) had approved his misdeeds by remaining passive. “In this process, innocent persons lost their money and future, which cannot be ignored,” he said, and directed the police to prioritise the case.
As for the second complaint, lodged against the former Minister by Mr. Nallathambi, the judge said the allegation was that he had collected over ₹3 crore from various persons for securing them jobs and given the money to the then Minister and his personal assistants. Though the former Minister accused Mr. Nallathambi of having lodged a false complaint to escape from the first complaint, the judge said the advance bail petitioner could not be heard to take such defence after having had a close association with a person who had a dubious record of cheating job aspirants.
