Ex-Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji, Jailed Since June 2023, Granted Bail By SC | What's The Case

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih put certain conditions while granting bail to Senthil Balaji.

Senthil Balaji Case | Timeline

Balaji was arrested on June 14 last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister in an earlier All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government.

The ED had on August 12 last year filed a 3,000-page charge sheet against Balaji.

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On October 19, the high court had dismissed Balaji's earlier bail plea. A local court has also dismissed his bail petitions thrice.

What Is The Case

The alleged corruption case in which Senthil Balaji was arrested by the ED , dates back 10 years when the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, fully owned by Tamil Nadu, issued five advertisements calling for applications for various posts, including that of drivers (746 posts), conductors (610 posts), junior tradesman (trainee) (261 posts), junior engineer (trainee) (13 posts), and assistant engineer (trainee) (40 posts).

After the ads were issued in November 2014, interviews were held on December 24 that year and the list of selected candidates was published subsequently, according to an indiatoday.in report.

Following this, a man identified as Devasagayam lodged a complaint on October 29, 2015, with the Chennai Police against 10 people, alleging that that he had paid Rs 2.6 lakh to a conductor named to secure the job of conductor in the Transport Corporation for his son, however, his son did not get the job. The complaint said that when he confronted the conductor - Palani - he was directed to several other people. When he demanded a refund of his money, he was turned away, the report mentioned.

Another complainant, Gopi, filed a petition on March 7, 2016, with the Commissioner of Police, claiming that he had applied for the post of conductor. After the interview, he was approached by Ashokan, who identified himself as Senthil Balaji’s brother, one Karthik, who claimed to be the minister’s brother-in-law.

After multiple such complaints with links to Senthil Balaji, the police filed a Final Report against 47 persons, including Balaji and Shanmugam (PA to Balaji), in which the offences under the PC Act (Prevention of Corruption Act) were included.

The PA to Minister Shanmugam, who was named among accused in the final report, filed a petition in 2021 before the high court seeking to quash the police's report. Just a day before the high court passed the quashing order, the ED registered a case and issued a summons to minister Senthil Balaji.