The Principal District and Sessions Court in Chennai has extended the judicial custody of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji until January 22 in connection with a cash-for-job money laundering case. Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 14 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On January 5, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking his removal from the state cabinet, stating that a governor cannot dismiss a minister without the chief minister’s recommendation. The case is linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam during Balaji’s tenure as Transport Minister in an earlier AIADMK regime. Balaji’s remand has been extended till January 22.
The ED had arrested Balaji in connection with an Enforcement Case Information Register (ECIR) filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2021.
The ECIR was registered on the basis of three FIRs lodged against him by the local police in 2018 for his alleged involvement in a cash-for-job case when he was the Transport Minister in Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet in 2015. The charges date back to his tenure as transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015.
