'We Grant Bail And Next Day You Go And Become Minister': Supreme Court Raps DMK Leader Senthil Balaji

12/2/2024 8:22:28 AM

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Supreme Court of India has voiced concern about the reinstatement of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji days after he was released from jail on bail. The DMK leader was re-inducted into the state government in late September following his release in a money laundering case. The apex court also agreed to examine a plea raising apprehensions on independence of witnesses in the case.

“We grant bail and the next day you go and become Minister. Anybody will be bound to be under the impression that now with your position as a senior cabinet minister witnesses will be under pressure. What is this going on?” the Bench asked.

Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih however refused to interfere with the September 26 order that had granted bail to Balaji. The matter was posted for a hearing on December 13 and his counsel was asked to get instructions.

Balaji was granted bail on September 26 after more than 15 months in jail. He had resigned from the Tamil Nadu government in mid-February - after spending some seven months behind bars as a minister without any portfolios. The 48-year-old was reinstated as a minister in the MK Stalin-led government on September 29 with the same key portfolios he had previously held.

The charges date back to his tenure as transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government from 2011 to 2015. Balaji had joined the DMK in December 2018 and assumed office as the Electricity Minister after the party came to power in May 2021.

The Enforcement Directorate had filed a case of money laundering in July 2021 and the Karur MLA was arrested by the probe agency on June 14 last year. The agency's chargesheet claimed the entire recruitment process in the Tamil Nadu transport department during the tenure of Balaji as minister was turned into a "corrupt chiefdom", and the scam was executed under his authority.

(With inputs from agencies)

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