Ex-Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji walks out of jail after SC grants bail in money laundering case

Hours after the Supreme Court granted bail, former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji walked out of jail after being inside for months since June of this year.

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji in connection with a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih granted bail to Balaji and said there has been a delay in the trial.

“Bail granted but there are very onerous conditions put in the bail,” said the bench.

After the order DMK MP and Advocate NR Elango said, “The SC granted bail to V Senthil Balaji who is incarcerated in the prison as an under-trial prisoner in an ED case for more than 15 months. The long delay which has occurred.. .could be there in conducting the trials in the predicate offense as well as the PMLA case. The bail has been granted imposing certain conditions that he should appear before the Enforcement Directorate twice a week, he should not tamper with the witnesses and surrender his passport. “

Senthil Balaji had challenged the Madras High Court order which denied him bail. The former minister Balaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 in connection with a money laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam when he was the Transport Minister during an earlier AIADMK regime. 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. He joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in December 2018 and assumed office as the Electricity Minister after the party came to power in May 2021.