TVK MLAs’ attempted bribery case: Madras High Court stays probe against one of the accused

Madras High Court. File | Photo Credit: K. Pichumani The Madras High Court on Wednesday (July 29, 2026) stayed all further proceedings against T. Ramesh, one of the accused in a case of alleged attempt to bribe TVK MLAs, which is being investigated by the Triplicane police in Chennai after the party’s Uthangarai MLA N. Elaiyaraja alleged that he was offered a bribe of ₹35 crore.The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan granted the interim stay pursuant to a writ petition filed by the accused for transferring the investigation from the Greater Chennai Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a de novo probe.The petitioner had also sought to declare Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 as unconstitutional, on the ground that it empowers the police to arrest any individual without following the regular procedure of issuing notices of inquiry before resorting to the extreme measure of arrest.Senior counsel V. Raghavachari, representing the petitioner, complained to the court that his client had absolutely no connection whatsoever with the alleged crime and yet, he was arrested solely on the basis of the supposed confession given by the accused who had been named in the First Information Report (FIR).Stating that Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan of the High Court had granted bail to the writ petitioner only on Tuesday (July 28, 2026), the senior counsel said, the personal liberty of a citizen had been curtailed at the drop of the hat without issuing a notice of inquiry under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).On the other hand, Advocate General Vijay Narayan and State Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan told the court that the investigation conducted by the police so far had revealed that there was an attempt to purchase a considerable number of TVK MLAs on payment of crores of rupees through hawala transactions.The court was also told that the police had recovered around ₹1 lakh from the petitioner’s residence and there were sufficient materials to suspect his involvement in the crime. The A-G also argued that the petitioner could not seek a CBI probe as a consequential direction after having primarily challenged Section 17 of the PC Act.After hearing the preliminary arguments, the judges ordered notices to the Centre, the State government, the Greater Chennai Police, the CBI, and Mr. Elaiyaraja, seeking their response to the writ petition, and granted interim stay of all further proceedings in the investigation being conducted against the petitioner alone. Published - July 29, 2026 12:35 pm IST