Former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji appears before city court in ED case

Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the ED last year in a money laundering case, on Tuesday appeared before a sessions court.

He collected a copy of a covering letter, dated February 22, 2022 addressed by Manager, City Union Bank Ltd, Karur, to the Enforcement Directorate related to his account, which were collected by the ED in its investigation.

Principal Sessions Judge S Alli, before whom Senthil Balaji was produced by the prison authorities, also extended his remand till July 18.

The judge ordered notice to the ED on two new petitions filed by Balaji. In one petition, he sought to send the "Relied Upon Documents No.16 and 17"--copies of counterfoil challans relating to his bank account, to the Tamil Nadu Forensic Sciences Laboratory for ascertaining its genuinity.

In another petition, he sought to re-open the arguments in the discharge petition, on his side, which was closed on March 22, 2024.

Balaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 by the ED 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.