Senthil Balaji Case: Bank Statement Reveals 'Huge Cash Deposits' In TN Minister, Wife's Account, Says ED

The ED submitted a prosecution complaint on August 12 before a Special Court of Chennai against Balaji and his aides and it took cognizance of the complaint on Wednesday, it said in a statement.

File Photo of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji

Source : PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that a bank account analysis of jailed Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife shows they received "huge cash deposits." The statement from the central agency comes just days after it filed a chargesheet against the minister in a money laundering investigation, reported news agency PTI.

The ED submitted a prosecution complaint on August 12 before a Special Court of Chennai against Balaji and his aides and it took cognizance of the complaint on Wednesday, it said in a statement.

Earlier on Saturday, a Chennai court remanded Balaji to judicial custody till August 25. The ED had produced him before a sessions court after the completion of its custody today.

in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporations/Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai). The Hon’ble Special Court, Chennai, has taken cognizance of the same.

— ED (@dir_ed) August 17, 2023

"During ED investigation, the bank statement analysis revealed that there were huge cash deposits in the bank accounts of accused V Senthil Balaji and his wife S Megala," the ED alleged. "ED has collected incriminating evidences indicating the utilisation of proceeds of crime and establishing the nexus and modus operandi of the 'cash for jobs scam'." 

The minister, who was arrested by the ED on June 14, will continue to be lodged at the Puzhal central jail in Chennai.

As per ED, Balaji was confronted with "incriminating evidences but he failed to rebut the same and offer any plausible explanation, instead he remained non-cooperative and evasive during the investigation proceedings".

The agency claimed it has collected incriminating evidence indicating the utilisation of the "proceeds of crime" and establishing the "nexus" and modus operandi of the alleged 'cash for Jobs Scam', reported PTI.

On August 7, the court permitted the central agency to take custody of Senthil Balaji for five days to interrogate him in connection with a cash-for-jobs scam 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.

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.