On Monday, the Madras High Court refused to discharge DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Electricity and Prohibition, Excise Minister, V Senthil Balaji from a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2021, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Justice V Sivagnanam upheld the ED proceedings while dismissing a petition from Senthil Balaji to discharge him from the case, which arose out of a job racketing scam, in 2021. A fresh inquiry has been ordered. The judge also turned down a petition to quash the FIR filed by another accused in the case. Instead, The court has ordered a fresh examination into the allegations leveled against the minister and the co-accused in two more complaints.
Trouble mounts For DMK minister Senthil Balaji, a close confidante of Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, as a Recruitment Scam from his time with the AIDMK, comes back to haunt him.
Back in September,
the current DMK minister for Tamil Nadu Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, Senthil Balaji, suffered a setback when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of restoring a quashed criminal case against him in a recruitment scam pertaining to his tenure as Transport Minister between 2011 and 2014 in the former AIDMK government led by late CM J.Jayalalithaa.
He had begun his political career in his early 20s and had mostly associated himself with the DMK’s rival, the AIDMK. Senthil Balaji, who had earlier enjoyed the proximity to AIDMK leader and ex-CM, Jayalalitha and her close confidante Sasikala, is a powerful political organizer in the Western districts of Tamil Nadu. During his tenure as Transport Minister in the AIADMK government led by the late J Jayalalithaa from 2011 to 2015, there were several complaints filed against him, alleging that he had received substantial bribe money from multiple people in exchange for appointing them as drivers and conductors in Transportation Corporations.
He joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in the presence of Party President M. K. Stalin on 14 December 2018. Soon after joining the party, he was offered the post of District Secretary and was later announced as the DMK candidate for the Aravakurichi constituency. He was elected as an MLA on 23 May 2019 for the fourth time. He is reported to enjoy a close relationship with DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M K Stalin.
Justice Sivagnanam stated that the special court for cases against MPs/MLAs, would be free to exercise power under Section 216 of the CrPC (adding/altering charges), if the State Investigating Officer is reluctant to conduct a thorough inquiry into the allegations of the case.
“On completion of the investigation, if the Investigating Officer makes out a case for cognizance of offense against the accused persons, then he shall provide the relevant materials and documents to the ED to enable it to proceed with the money laundering offense”, the judge stated in his order.
Three FIRs were filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Chennai City Police against him in connection with these allegations, which resulted in charge sheets being filed against him, and those charge sheets were pending before a special court for the trial of criminal cases involving MPs and MLAs.
Since the charge sheets revealed the commission of a scheduled offense under the PML Act ( Money Laundering) rather than the IPC, the ED registered the current case against Senthil Balaji and others in July 2021 and launched an investigation into the matter.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.