TN cops nab Rajenthra Bhalaji from Hassan

Madurai/Hassan: Nearly three weeks after he went missing, luck ran out for former AIADMK minister K T Rajenthra Bhalaji, wanted in a cheating case, when Tamil Nadu police arrested him from Hassan near Mysuru on Wednesday as he was allegedly trying to move to Goa. Virudhunagar district crime branch (DCB) police had registered two cases against Bhalaji for cheating people of money by promising government jobs.

In a dramatic turn of events, a special police team from Dharmapuri stopped the car in which Bhalaji was travelling in front of the district information office in Hassan and took him into custody. Clad in a saffron dhoti and shirt, Bhalaji did not offer resistance and got into the police car while three men who accompanied him were also detained.

Police sources said Bhalaji has not been using his mobile phone ever since he absconded on December 17 amid a protest demonstration in Virudhunagar after both his anticipatory bail petitions were dismissed by Madras high court. However, he was in contact with his supporters using different sim cards and through landline phones. Virudhunagar district police had constituted eight special teams to nab him and had issued a lookout notice too. An investigation officer said Bhalaji managed to give them the slip at least six times in Hosur, Bengaluru and a few other places as cops reached the destinations hours after he left.

By tracking his close contacts who helped him with accommodation and food at various places, the police finally managed to zero in on him. He was about to leave for Goa in a Skoda car near Hassan when they caught up with him. Hassan SP R Srinivas Gowda said Tamil Nadu police had sought help from the district police to trace the politician. “We helped them trace him,” he said.

On November, Virudhunagar DCB unit had booked the former minister under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 506(i) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The first case against Bhalaji and his two accomplices is for collecting money from 23 people on the promise of getting them government jobs in Aavin and government departments. The second is based on a complaint from K Nallathambi, a co-accused in the first case, who claimed that Bhalaji used him as a tool to collect money from people promising jobs in Aavin.

Virudhunagar district police have received several such cheating complaints against Bhalaji. The two-time MLA and minister had filed a special leave application before Supreme Court after his anticipatory bail pleas were rejected. However, his application is yet to be taken up for hearing.


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