Following new searches against Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and others in connection with a money laundering investigation, it is alleged that unaccounted valuables worth more than Rs 16 lakh and Rs 22 lakh in cash were recovered from the premises of a driver.
On August 3, searches were conducted in the state’s Coimbatore and Karur districts. They targeted nine places with ties to Balaji, who is now being held in judicial custody at Chennai’s Puzhal Central Jail.
Balaji (47) is still serving as a minister without a portfolio in the Tamil Nadu government that is led by M K Stalin. He was detained on June 14 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering investigation into a purported cash-for-jobs scheme at the state transportation agency.
After receiving ‘intelligence inputs’ that Balaji’s ‘close associate’ S T Saminathan ‘possessed incriminating documents/proceeds of crime and was trying to hide/transfer them,’ the ED claimed it conducted the new raids.
During the search of Saminathan’s home, it was found that Shanthi, his sister-in-law, was “acting as his benami and was seen moving bags containing documents and valuables.”
As a result, according to the agency, ED personnel visited Shanthi’s location but she wasn’t there.
According to the agency, CCTV footage revealed that the luggage had been given to a driver named Shiva.
The ED claimed that Shiva was not present when his home was searched and that he had turned off his mobile phone after learning about the inspections at Shanti’s home.
‘During the search at Shiva’s residence, cash amounting to Rs 22 lakh and unaccounted valuables worth Rs 16.6 lakh along with unexplained property documents for 60 land parcels were found,’ the ED claimed.
According to the agency, Shanthi was a housewife with no source of income and refused to collaborate or take part in the search.
According to the agency, the driver Shiva ‘admitted’ in his statement that Shanthi gave him the bags ‘out of fear that incriminating details would be discovered.’
‘It appears that the seized property and cash belong to Saminathan,’ the ED alleged.
On Wednesday, the federal investigation agency informed the Supreme Court that Balaji was blocking it from using its right to a custodial questioning and obtaining the facts. The high court delayed judgement on the arguments made by the DMK leader and his husband who are contesting his arrest.
On July 21, the top court requested the ED’s answer to pleas filed by Balaji and his wife Megala contesting the Madras High Court’s July 14 ruling sustaining his arrest by the investigating agency in the money laundering case.
The couple has challenged the high court ruling in two separate applications filed with the highest court.
On Friday, the Madras High Court postponed making decisions on writ petitions concerning Balaji’s continued membership in the Cabinet despite his detention and the governor of Tamil Nadu’s resisted attempt to remove him from the Council of Ministers.
The ED had previously asserted that Balaji allegedly ‘misused’ his office for illegal gain and ‘engineered’ a job-racket scheme in the state transport enterprises during 2014–2015 with accused kickbacks paid by candidates through his cronies, including R V Ashok Kumar and B Shanmugam.
To investigate these claims, the ED opened a money laundering investigation in September 2021. The complaint is based on three Tamil Nadu Police FIRs that some of the people who were promised jobs submitted in 2018 and some subsequent years.
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