Raja's brother booked

It was vigilant opposition AIADMK workers who spotted A Kaliyaperumal, brother of former union telecom minister A Raja, distributing money through the help of self help groups in a village of Perambulur district last week and complained to the election commission officials. HT reports.

The police arrested former union telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja's brother A Kaliyaperumal for allegedly bribing voters. He was later released on bail.

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Kaliyaperumal’s brush with the police happened on Thursday after AIADMK workers complained to the election commission that he was giving money to voters through self-help groups in Perambulur.

A flying squad rushed to Eraiyur village where Kaliyaperumal was canvassing for the DMK and allegedly luring women voters by promising them loans of up to R2 lakh. An official source said the EC squad could not catch Kaliyaperumal in the alleged act of bribing voters because he left his vehicle and hopped onto the campaign vehicle of Independent candidate, A Ravichandran.

Though the squad could not confiscate any money from Raja’s brother, campaign material with pictures of CM M Karunanidhi and Raja were recovered from Ravichandran’s vehicle. The police have filed a case against Kaliyaperumal as he was moving in a vehicle not permitted by EC and had campaign material for which he did not have permission. Ravichandran has also been booked.