Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) alliance partner and All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) leader Sarath Kumar and his wife, Radikaa, have been sentenced to a one-year jail term under a cheque bounce case. The Special Court in Chennai also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crores in connection with the case. The actor couple have moved the court to seek the suspension of the sentence.
This is in connection with seven cases filed against Sarathkumar and two against Radhika regarding failure to repay loans.
According to sources, the actors-cum-politicians Radhika and Sarathkumar's production company procured loans from Radiant Group in 2015 to produce Idhu Enna Maayam directed by AL Vijay and starring Vikram Prabhu and Keerthy Suresh in the lead roles.
In repayment of the amount, Sarathkumar had issued undated cheques, but they bounced in March 2017. In 2019, the Madras High Court had declined to quash the criminal proceedings in two cheque bounce cases pending against the actor couple.
Meanwhile, the BJP has filed a complaint against MNM leader Kamal Haasan’s daughter Shruti Haasan, accusing her of trespassing into a polling booth where she was accompanying her father for booth visit in Coimbatore South. Kamal, a candidate from the Coimbatore South constituency had earlier raised a complaint with the Election Commission against the BJP, accusing the party of promising money to voters on winning the Tamil Nadu polls.
The complaint filed by the Coimbatore District President Nandakumar on behalf of BJP national women's wing leader Vanathi Srinivasan, who is also the party’s candidate from Coimbatore South constituency, against Shruti, is seen by MNM workers as a retaliation to Kamal’s accusations. Nandakumar wrote to the district election officer demanding that criminal action be taken against the actress for visiting the polling booths.
