The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Tamil Nadu Minister for Electricity, Prohibition, & Excise V Senthil Balaji in a money-laundering case in Chennai in the early hours of June 14. His arrest comes after the ED conducted raids at his premises in Chennai and Karur and also conducted searches in his office at the Secretariat on June 13. After 18 hours of searches, at 1.30 am on June 14, he was informed that he was under arrest.
Around 2.15 am, he was taken to the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital at Omandurar Government Estate after he complained of chest pain. Visuals showed Senthil Balaji lying down in a car, crying in pain as he is brought to the hospital. According to the hospital sources, doctors detected variation in his ECG and he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit, where he is under medical observation.
On June 13, ED held searches at Senthi Balaji's official chamber in the state Secretariat, his official residence at Greenways in Chennai, and other places linked to him in Karur district and Coimbatore districts in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the transport job scams while he was a Transport Minister during the period of 2011-2015, in Jayalalithaa's cabinet, under the AIADMK rule. The officers locked his chamber from inside the Secretariat and questioned the employees who work for the minister.
ED officials also conducted raids at the premises owned by Senthil Balaji’s brother Ashok Kumar at Karur. The money laundering case was first investigated by the Central Crime Branch of the Chennai police. Several crore rupees in bribes were allegedly collected from candidates aspiring for jobs as drivers, conductors, and mechanics in the state-run Metropolitan Transport Corporation.
It is to be noted that this is the first time that a central investigation agency like ED entered Fort St George to conduct a search on a minister. The raid at the Secretariat, a seat of power, received condemnation from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge. MK Stalin called the search politically motivated and an ‘insult to cooperative federalism’. In a statement released on Tuesday, June 13, Stalin asked what the reason behind the searches at the state secretariat is, and added, “The people of the country are watching the politics of intimidation of the BJP. The BJP is unable to fight politically, but their back-door intimidation tactics will not work.”
Earlier in May, the Income Tax (IT) Department had carried out an eight-day raid at Senthil Balaji’s residence and at the homes and offices of his supporters and friends. The latest developments unfolded after the Supreme Court cleared the decks for the investigation and set aside Madras High Court's order directing a fresh probe into the multi-crore transport job scam and ordered that ongoing investigations may be continued. On May 16, the Supreme Court said, “Appeals arising out of the order for de novo (fresh probe) investigation are allowed. Observations and directions in that order are set aside. IO can proceed further in all other cases by including offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act.” The SC also said that a request for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) can be considered at a later stage.