Madras High Court Reserves Verdict On Plea Seeking CBI Probe Into Alleged MLA Horse-Trading Case
According to MLA N Ilaiyaraja, the alleged offer was made despite him being a member of the ruling TVK party.
Published : July 16, 2026 at 7:14 PM IST
Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into an alleged horse-trading case involving a Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA. The court said that the the matter cannot be transferred to the central agency without supporting evidence.
N Ilaiyaraja, the TVK MLA from Uthangarai, filed a petition alleging that he was offered a bribe of up to Rs 35 crore to vote in a particular manner during a proposed no-confidence motion against the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
According to the MLA, the alleged offer was made despite him being a member of the ruling TVK party. Based on Ilaiyaraja's complaint, the Triplicane Police registered a case and arrested more than 10 people, including YouTuber Thirunavukkarasu of Chennai's Arumbakkam, Naresh from Tiruchirappalli, and Thiagarajan from Medavakkam.
The accused were lodged in Puzhal Prison. Later, the Principal Sessions Court in Chennai granted police custody of some of the accused for further interrogation.
During the investigation, police reportedly found leads suggesting possible links to former DMK minister Senthil Balaji and his brother Ashok Kumar. Summons were issued to both, but they did not appear for hearing and approached the High Court and secured conditional anticipatory bail.
The petition seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI was filed by Tiruppur-based lawyer J Balasubramani.
He urged the High Court to hand over not only the case based on Ilaiyaraja's complaint but also to order a CBI inquiry into allegations that other MLAs had similarly been targeted in attempts at political horse-trading.
The bench comprised Chief Justice S A Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arulmurugan and the counsel for the petitioner argued that political horse-trading was still going on and requires an independent investigation.
The petitioner said that the matter was not politically motivated and that the current political situation needs a fair probe by the CBI. He further alleged that those arrested were coerced by the police and said that despite complaints from five individuals regarding alleged horse-trading attempts, police had neither registered additional cases nor taken adequate action.
Appearing for the state, Advocate General Vijay Narayan opposed the plea and said that a CBI investigation is generally warranted only when the local police fail to discharge their duties properly. He submitted that the police had acted promptly on the complaints and had collected audio and video evidence as part of the ongoing investigation.
During the proceedings, the bench questioned the need to transfer the investigation while the police probe was still in progress. The judges also sought to know the basis on which the petitioner said that the situation had deteriorated to the extent that a CBI investigation was necessary.
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