O. Raja surrenders in Theni court, gets bail
Raja was one of the seven accused for abetting the suicide of a temple priest, a Dalit
Chennai: O. Raja, brother of finance minister O. Panneerselvam, surrendered in a court in Theni district on Wednesday. The former Periyakulam municipality chairman is listed as one of the seven accused for abetting the suicide of a temple priest, a Dalit, in 2012.
Acting on the direction of the Madras HC, Raja surrendered before judicial magistrate Sivagnanam at the Periyakulam court and secured bail. A case was booked against him under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Earlier, Justice M.M. Sundresh of the court’s Madurai Bench had on June 11 allowed a petition filed by Raja seeking a direction to the lower court to dispose of a bail application to be filed by him on the day of his surrender in the case.
The judge had granted the relief after the petitioner’s counsel, R. Gandhi submitted that there would be no need for Raja’s custodial interrogation since the police had already completed the probe and filed a charge-sheet before Periyakulam magistrate on June 4.