Jailed Senthil Balaji Resigns As Tamil Nadu Minister Amid Bail Rejections

Balaji was arrested on June 14 last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering probe linked to a cash-for-job case filed by the Central Crime Branch police of Chennai. Senthil Balaji was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime.

Sources within the ruling DMK party confirmed Balaji's resignation. "Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged Governor TN Ravi to drop him from the cabinet," an NDTV report quoted sources as saying.

The development comes ahead of Senthil Balaji's bail hearing in the Madras High Court on February 14.

Balaji's bail has been rejected by a trial court in the city multiple times previously and it is currently being heard by justice Anand Venkatesh of the high court who recently criticised his continuing in the DMK cabinet.

Since his arrest, Senthil Balaji has been hospitalised for chest pains and has also undergone a heart surgery at a private hospital. He was discharged on July 17 and has since been jailed in the Puzhal central prison.

While Balaji was a minister, he was not holding any portfolio as Tamil Nadu Chief minister MK Stalin reallocated his portfolios (electricity, excise and prohibition). But CM Stalin had cited Balaji's ill health and not his arrest for the reallocation.