On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the pleas of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala, which were challenging the Madras High Court's decision to uphold his arrest in a money laundering case.
The bench of Justices S Bopanna and MM Sundresh also referred the issue of permissible police custody beyond the first 15 days of remand to a larger bench.
Despite his arrest on June 14, V Senthil Balaji continues to hold the position of a minister without portfolio in the Tamil Nadu government. He and his wife contested the Madras High Court's order, which upheld his arrest by the probe agency, linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the state's transport department.
Just four days ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted fresh searches in connection with its ongoing investigation against Balaji and others, official sources said.
They said premises linked to some entities were being probed in this case and alleged benamidars were being raided in Coimbatore and Karur.
Balaji has been arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) by the ED linked to the cash-for-jobs scam when he was state Transport Minister in 2014.
The case against Balaji came up when one K. Arulmani filed a complaint against him in 2018. Arulmani had alleged that Balaji took bribes in order to hand out jobs when a notification for the recruitment of driver and conductor in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation was issued in 2014.
With agency inputs.
First Published: Aug 7, 2023 10:59 AM IST
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