The District Crime Branch (DCB) police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against former Transport Minister V. Senthil Balaji and two others on charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
Acting on a complaint by one Subbiah, who allegedly acted as an agent, the DCB registered the FIR against the former Minister, Babu, former Managing Director (MD) of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), Kumbakonam division, and Rangarajan, the present MD.
Police charged them under sections 406 (criminal misappropriation of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 420 (cheating) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The DCB had registered the FIR about ten days ago after the complainant moved the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, seeking a direction to the district police to register a case. The petition came up for hearing on August 8 and the court had adjourned the case to August 23 without passing any order, police said.
The complainant’s case was that he had collected about Rs. 60 lakh from 38 Dalits at the behest of the Minister for appointing them as Technical Assistants in TNSTC, posts reserved for Dalits. They were issued appointment orders, but they turned out to be fake orders, he said in the complaint.
According to police, Subbiah, against whom the Pudukottai police had registered FIR last month based on complaints given by some of those who had given money, had sent the complaint by post early this month. He was absconding and failed to turn up for the preliminary enquiry, police said. Mr Rangarajan appeared before the DCB and furnished details, police said.
