OPR examined for more than 3 hours before MHC in election petition
Senior counsel Sriram appeared for OP Ravindhranath (OPR) and examined him before Justice SS Sundar on Wednesday.
CHENNAI: OP Ravindhranath, MP, was examined and cross-examined for over three and half hours before the Madras High Court in an election petition challenging his election victory from the Theni constituency in 2019.
Senior counsel Sriram appeared for OP Ravindhranath (OPR) and examined him before Justice SS Sundar on Wednesday.
During the examination senior counsel questioned OPR about the alleged discrepancies in his election affidavit.
OPR answered that the objection was raised by independent candidate Thanga Tamilselvan and Arappor Iyakkam saying that the MP had suppressed his assets in the affidavit.
"However, it was explained by my advocate to the returning officer that there was a typo error in particular, but my total assets remained the same," Ravindhranath claimed.
Subsequently, OPR requested to submit the documents to support his stand, but the petitioner's advocate V Arun, objected to the submission, however, Justice marked the documents.
Later the petitioner's advocate cross-examined OPR about his bank transactions.
Advocate Arun questioned how he received Rs.1.30 crores from a firm that has no asset value on April 23, 2023, but in a week it started to give such money as return.
OPR replied that he got profit from that firm and his auditor only knows all other details about the firm.
Subsequently, OPR's advocate Rajalakshmi intervened and objected that the petitioner's advocate is exceeding his scope by asking questions which have no connection with their pleadings.
However, Justice granted permission for the question and recorded the statement given by OPR.
After three and half hours of examination and cross-examination, Justice posted the petition to Friday for arguments, ruled the Justice.
The petition was filed by P Milany from the Theni constituency challenging OPR's election victory in 2019.
The petitioner claimed that OPR gave cash for votes and suppressed his asset value in the election affidavit, and sought to announce the victory as null and void.
