ED files charge sheet against TN minister Senthil Balaji, court sends him to judicial custody till Aug 25

The court is yet to take cognisance of the complaint (charge sheet) filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The ED is understood to have brought on record various documents seized, purported cash receipts recovered and the statement of Balaji that was recorded by it over the last few days in the charge sheet.

It is expected to file a supplementary charge sheet as a number of other people including members of Balaji’s family have not deposed before the agency till now.

It had recently said in a statement that Balaji’s RV Ashok Balaji, his (Ashoks’) wife Nirmala and mother-in-law P Lakshmi were sent multiple summons to join the probe and record their statements but they are “yet to appear in person, demonstrating a lack of cooperation with the ongoing investigation”.

A 2.49-acre land located in Karur, valued at more than Rs 30 crore, belonging to Nirmala was frozen by the ED a few days back in this case.

Balaji continues to be a minister without portfolio in Chief Minister M K Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government after he was arrested by the ED on June 14 in the money laundering case linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime.

The agency had earlier claimed that Balaji “misused” his office for illegal gratification and “engineered” a job racket scam in the state transport undertakings during 2014-15 with purported kickbacks paid by candidates through his associates who include his brother R V Ashok Kumar and his personal assistants B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan.
“This led to jobs being awarded at the expense of deserving candidates”, the ED had alleged.

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The ED filed a case of money laundering in September 2021 to probe these allegations and its complaint is based on three Tamil Nadu Police FIRs filed during 2018 and later by some of those who failed to get the promised jobs.