Graft charges fly as Baalu, Annamalai face off in court

Chennai: Former BJP state president K Annamalai and DMK MP T R Baalu had a face-off at the Saidapet court on Monday during the hearing of a defamation case filed by the DMK veteran against the BJP leader.Ships, cars and other assets came up as subjects of the exchange as the two questioned each other in the case that Baalu had filed after Annamalai released ‘DMK Files' accusing DMK leaders of corruption in 2023.
During the cross-examination, Annamalai said Baalu misused his position as Union shipping minister to buy 10 ships. Baalu rejected the claim and told the court that only two fishing vessels were purchased by Meenam Fisheries, a company in which he was a minority shareholder. Those vessels were small and do not require a deep channel like the Sethusamudram project, hence linking the project to the fishing vessels is wrong, he said.To Annamalai's charge that it was former DMK leader M K Alagiri who levelled this allegation, Baalu said it was due to a lack of understanding of the project. Annamalai then questioned the alleged protests against a distillery unit at Vadaseri village in Thanjavur district, which he said was against Baalu's family. Baalu said he was only a shareholder and not directly involved in the operations of the unit.To a question on the vehicles he owned, Baalu said his election affidavit disclosed ownership of only a tractor and no other vehicle. When it came to his turn, Baalu asked Annamalai about two land parcels worth 4.5-crore. Baalu sought to know the source of the money to purchase the land. Annamalai said the land parcels were purchased through legitimate means.Speaking to reporters outside the court later, Annamalai said he would file a separate defamation case against Baalu over the allegations of corruption raised during the hearing. The court posted the next hearing to the first week of March.