The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at 20 locations linked to Tamil Nadu Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister V. Senthil Balaji, including his official residence on Greenways Road, Chennai and his office at the State Secretariat. The searches are being conducted in relation to a money laundering case registered against the minister allegedly for committing a job recruitment scam while he was transport minister in erstwhile Jayalalithaa government, between 2011 and 2015.
The searches are taking place at 20 locations in Chennai, Erode, Karur and Coimbatore. ED is also conducting searches at the residence of his brother Ashok Kumar in Chennai, located near Senthil Balaji’s official residence, and at his ancestral house at Rameswarampatti in Karur.
The ED had earlier sent summons to Balaji and his brother which was quashed by the Madras High Court in September 2022. But on May 16, 2023, a Supreme Court bench comprising of justices V. Ramasubramanian and Krishna Murari allowed appeals against the Madras High Court order. The Supreme Court also directed the ED to continue its probe into the charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The apex court also granted the state police two months to complete the investigation and submit its final report. The Crime Branch had earlier registered three FIRs and three chargesheets regarding the job recruitment scam of which one FIR was compromised. The cases were registered during the previous Edappadi K.Palaniswami government.
On Tuesday, as the ED reached the residence of Balaji, the minister who was out for his morning walk informed the media that he will cooperate with the investigation. “I was on a morning walk with friends. As soon as I was notified about the searches, I immediately took a taxi and rushed to my house. I do not know what the ED is actually looking for in my house. But I will cooperate with the investigation. Be it ED or the Income Tax, I will fully cooperate with them,” Balaji told presspersons.
Officials from the Indian Bank and also three ED officers searched Balaji’s chamber in the State Secretariat for over three hours. Highly placed sources in the ED told THE WEEK that they have stumbled upon evidence that links Balaji to the job scam and money laundering.
Last month, Income Tax sleuths searched the houses and premises of Senthil Balaji’s brother Ashok and his relatives for nine days continuously. Searches were conducted at 40 places linked to Balaji and his associates then.
The 47-year-old Senthil Balaji is one of the youngest ministers in the DMK cabinet. Considered to be a key face of Stalin's government, Balaji enjoys huge clout in West Tamil Nadu and is most popular among the masses in his home turf Karur. Balaji is the minister in charge of Coimbatore, a district where DMK doesn't have even a single legislator.
“It is political vendetta, it is against the democratic practices. The ED is not even allowing the advocates to meet Balaji since morning,” DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi informed the media. Apparently, Balaji has emerged powerful in the West, particularly in Coimbatore, Pollachi and his home turf Karur which could spoil the prospects of BJP and its ally AIADMK.
