On Monday, the Madras High Court refused to release DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji from a case filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the clauses of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Justice V Sivagnanam retained the ED proceedings while rejecting Senthil Balaji’s petition to be released from the case, which arose out of a job racket fraud in 2021. The judge also turned down a petition to quash the FIR filed by another accused in the case. However, the court directed a fresh examination into the allegations leveled against the minister and the co-accused in two more complaints.
Just in: Madras High Court has refused to discharge Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji from corruption cases in connection with a job scam during his tenure as transport minister in 2011-15 & ordered a fresh inquiry into two such complaints @AIADMKOfficial
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) November 1, 2022
“The investigation should be conducted ab initio comprehensively covering all aspects including as to whether offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act are made out against the accused and collected from evidence,” Justice Sivagnanam said in his order.
He also stated that the special court for cases against MPs/MLAs will be free to exercise power under Section 216 of the CrPC (adding/altering charges) if the State/Investigating Officer is reluctant. “On completion of the investigation, if the IO 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 further added in his order.
Senthil Balaji served as transport minister in the AIADMK government led by the late J Jayalalithaa from 2011 to 2015. There were 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.
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 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.
