Chennai, 26/7: A local court on Wednesday extended till August 8 the judicial custody of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
Balaji, who is lodged at the Puzhal Central Prison, appeared before the judge via video conferencing. This is the third time Balaji’s judicial custody has been extended by the court.
Balaji was shifted to the Puzhal Central Prison on July 17 after his discharge from a private hospital – which came three days after a third judge of the Madras High Court dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by his wife S Megala questioning the ED’s powers to take him in police custody.
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The third judge was appointed after a division bench delivered a split verdict.
Balaji, who is now a minister without portfolio in Chief Minister M K Stalin’s cabinet, was arrested by the ED on June 14 in the alleged cash-for-job scam during his 2011-2015 tenure as Transport Minister in the then AIADMK cabinet led by J Jayalalithaa.
Balaji’s arrest by the ED also led to a major political controversy in Tamil Nadu with Governor R N Ravi “dismissing” him from the Council of Ministers, only to put on abeyance his decision within a few hours. The Governor’s action came after Stalin refused to drop Balaji from the cabinet, arguing that mere registration of a case doesn’t make anyone guilty.
Stalin, while “disregarding” the communication from the Governor, said only the CM has the right to induct or dismiss a minister.