New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Tamil Nadu Power Minister V. Senthilbalaji in a money laundering case early Wednesday after hours-long searches at his office in the state secretariat and a bungalow in Chennai, said media reports.
Balaji was admitted to the hospital after he complained of chest pain.
Tuesday’s raids, which were also conducted at places linked to the minister in Karur and Coimbatore, were condemned by opposition parties across the country, even as Chief Minister MK Stalin sought to seize power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Alleged ‘misuse’.
This is the first time that the ED has entered the Secretariat, said media reports.
A month ago, the Supreme Court set aside a Madras High Court order and asked the ED to probe his alleged role in a cash-for-jobs scam under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during his tenure as a minister. was allowed. Transport Minister under the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime in 2014.
Balaji was accused of accepting bribes from job aspirants for vacancies in the state transport department between 2014 and 2015.
The DMK came out in support of its minister and launched a scathing attack on the BJP. Calling it the “calm before the storm of 2024”, CM Stalin issued a press release on Tuesday evening, asserting that “the BJP’s backdoor tactics against its political opponents will not give them the desired results.”
In a statement shared on Twitter, he said, “The silence of people watching BJP’s dastardly acts of vendetta politics should not be underestimated.”
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge also issued a statement condemning the ‘gross misuse of the ED’ and termed it as a ‘brazen attempt of harassment and intimidation by the Modi government’.
“These tactics will not succeed in silencing the opposition,” the statement said. Reading.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) President and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also termed the raid as ‘unacceptable’. In a tweet condemning the act, he said it was ‘a desperate act by the BJP’.
I condemn the political vendetta by BJP against DMK @arivalayam Today. The misuse of central agencies continues. The ED raids on the State Secretariat of the Prohibition and Excise Minister and his official residence in Tamil Nadu are unacceptable. Disgusting act of BJP.
– Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 13, 2023
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “BJP blinded by political vendetta is causing irreparable damage to our democracy.”
‘cash-for-jobs’
Balaji joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 2018. In the same year, on the basis of four complaints against Balaji and some others, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (punishment for criminal breach of trust). cheating), and section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In 2019 the case was filed before a special court for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) – the MP/MLA court –. In the same year, Balaji was again elected as an MLA on a DMK ticket.
Meanwhile, the ED registered four cases in the alleged scam. The ED also issued summons against the MLA, naming Balaji as an accused.
He won from Karur in the 2021 assembly elections. That year, he approached the Madras HC and requested that the FIR against him be quashed. He said that he has tied up with 13 job aspirants. The court quashed the proceedings of the special court. However an appeal was filed against it.
Meanwhile, the minister again approached the Madras High Court challenging the ED summons. The court quashed the summons and stayed last year’s FIR. It was this judgment that was set aside by the SC on 16 May.
On May 26, the Income Tax Department (IT) conducted coordinated searches at Balaji’s residence and the properties of his brother, Ashok, and other relatives and allegedly his close contractors, ThePrint informed of.
Days before the Supreme Court’s verdict in the cash-for-jobs case, two separate cases of spurious liquor tragedies in the state left nearly 22 dead, prompting the BJP and the AIADMK to demand Balaji’s resignation from the ministry .
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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