In what has become a fresh strategy from the Tamil Nadu Police to intensify the manhunt against former ADMK Minister Rajenthra Balaji, a lookout notice has been issued against the latter and the move has been taken to ensure that he won't flee the country to evade the arrest and legal charges. The notice was issued on Thursday - December 23 to all the airports in Tamil Nadu and across the country to detain him if he tries to leave the country. 

The Tamil Nadu police have already been tracing the whereabouts of the former minister and eight special teams have been formed to take up the baton of apprehending him in connection to the cheating charges that were filed against him last month. A native of the Virudhunagar district, Rajenthra Balaji has been a controversial political figure in Tamil Nadu and he served as the Minister of Dairy Development in the previous ADMK government, led by Edappadi Palaniswami. 

The cases against him had accused him of cheating to the tune of Rs 3 crore with the fake promises of providing government jobs while he was serving as the minister. The cases were lodged by two people including Rajenthra Balaji's former associate and the Virudhunagar police had filed an FIR against him under section- 420-cheating, 406- punishment for criminal breach of trust, and 506- criminal intimidation of the IPC. After knowing that he would be arrested as the sequel of the serious charges, Rajenthra Balaji had moved an anticipatory bail petition to the Madras High Court.

However, the High Court had completely dismissed his plea last week after the police department has said that it has got strong evidence against the former minister that he had committed cheating and swindled money. After learning about the dismissal of his bail plea, Rajenthra Balaji had reportedly absconded last Friday and he was last seen in an event organized by the ADMK against the DMK government in Virudhunagar. The reports say that he had immediately left the event after knowing that his bail plea was rejected. 

He was then nowhere to be seen and but carried out legal measures by moving his bail petition to the Supreme Court to evade the arrest. On the other hand, the Virudhunagar police had issued an arrest warrant against Rajenthra Balaji and the department had initially formed four special teams to arrest him. These teams had rushed to Chennai, Madurai, and two southern districts and as the manhunt had progressed, the police department had formed four more teams to intensify the search and arrest him. 

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu police had rushed to Bengaluru with the tip-off that he was hiding in the Karnataka capital. However, the police had reported no positive development and the officials are tracing his call record, his friends, and relatives to ascertain his whereabouts. The reports had said that the former minister had been changing his vehicles as he was on run to refrain from the radar of the manhunt. As no development occurred, the police had now issued a lookout notice against Rajenthra Balaji. It must be noted that he had earlier petitioned to the apex court to hear the plea on a priority basis. However, the court is yet to take up his appeal.