The development came a month after the Supreme Court greenlit the ED probe into Balaji's alleged role in the cash-for-jobs scam.
Published Jun 13, 2023 | 5:28 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 14, 2023 | 1:02 PM
On May 16, 2023, a division Bench comprising Justices Murari and Ramasubramanian delivered its Judgement in the case stating that the ED is entitled to proceed further from the stage at which their hands were tied.
In a day of dramatic events, officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at Tamil Nadu Secretariat — a rarity.
The searches were part of the raids sleuths of the Central investigative agency carried out in eight places connected to Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji in Chennai and Karur on the morning of Tuesday, 13 June.
A team of officials raided the office of the minister, which is located at the Secretariat in St George Fort in Chennai, in an operation that went on for four hours.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin deemed the central agency’s action against his minister Senthil Balaji intimidation by BJP.
“BJP is indulging in backdoor intimidation of those it is unable to face politically,” MK Stalin’s office released a statement quoting the chief minister.
ED officials reportedly seized the hard disc from Senthil Balaji’s computer and took away documents and files in two suitcases.
The development comes a month after the Supreme Court gave the green signal to the ED to probe into Balaji’s alleged role in the cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister in the AIADMK regime in 2014.
Balaji joined the DMK in 2018.
ED Raids are being conducted at the Secretariat in the Office of Senthil Balaji in Chennai on Tuesday, 13 June, 2023. (Supplied)
On Tuesday morning, two ED teams comprising 10 officers — five in each team — stormed the official government bungalow of Balaji on DGS Dhinakaran Road in Chennai.
Another team of officials raided the properties of Balaji’s brother Ashok Kumar at Bishop Garden on Greenways Road, while yet another team raided a property connected to Balaji in Abiramapuram in the city.
According to sources, four teams of ED officials were also conducting raids at the residence of Balaji in Karur, which is the headquarters of the eponymous district.
When the officials came to raid Balaji’s official residence, the minister was not present at home.
Coming to know of the raids, Balaji, who had apparently gone for a morning walk, rushed to the government bungalow.
Meanwhile, the ED officials took along with them a battalion of Central Armed Police for its protection.
When the ED officials arrived at the Secretariat with the armed Central police, the Tamil Nadu Police stopped them and refused the central forces entry.
A senior police official said the Central police were stopped because weapons were not allowed inside the Secretariat building due to security protocols.
Meanwhile, Balaji told reporters before he entered the house that he was ready to cooperate with the ED officials.
He, however, added that he didn’t know the reason or the pertinent case because of which the raids were being conducted.
He also said that he and his relatives had cooperated well with the Income Tax (I-T) Department searches that happened last month.
Sources from the ED told South First that the directorate had issued a summons to Balaji and others for an inquiry in the case registered against them.
But Balaji approached the Madras High Court seeking relief from the appearance, they noted.
The court halted the probe, so the ED approached the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling.
Last month, the Supreme Court ordered the ED to continue its probe from the place where it stopped due to litigations.
The ED officials also said there was concrete evidence that the minister had been involved in money laundering. The raids are being conducted based on that.
Once the raids were over, an official statement would be released, said the officials.
Reacting to the ED raids at Secretariat, Chief Minister Stalin questioned the need to conduct raids at the office of a minister in the Secretariat, terming it “a direct assault on the federal principle”
“Don’t know whether they (the BJP government at the Centre) want to show that they can conduct raids even at the highest office of the state or to threaten the state government. Is it right to spoil the sovereignty of a state government by sending armed police inside the state’s office?” he asked.
Stalin, who has in the past accused the BJP of targeting political opponents using the Central investigative agencies, added: “When the BJP cannot face their opponents politically, they indulge in such acts. These sorts of intimidation will not work with the DMK, and the BJP should understand this.”
“They will realise this very soon and the time is nearing,” he added, calling the raids “cheap acts of vindictive politics”.
The raid conducted by ED at the Secretariat office of Hon’ble Minister Senthil Balaji, is a direct assault on the federal principle.
The backdoor tactics of BJP against its political opponents will not yield them desired results. BJP will learn it the hard way soon. The silence… pic.twitter.com/lic3uAcSHO
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) June 13, 2023
DMK Organising Secretary RS Bharathi waiting outside Balaji’s residence, as the ED officials denied him permission to meet the minister.
The DMK’s Organising Secretary RS Bharathi went to the official residence of Senthil Balaji on Tuesday afternoon, where the raids were still underway. The Central police reportedly denied him entry.
Bharathi subsequently told reporters that the ED raids were being conducted on Senthil Balaji in order to draw away attention from the tussle between the BJP and the AIADMK.
“We have seen such raids from 1976, and not even a single allegation has been proved in any court,” he claimed.
“The BJP cannot defame the DMK with such raids. Even advocates were not allowed to meet Senthil Balaji,” he said.
“Senthil Balaji is a minister. His rights should be protected,” the DMK organising secretary added.
Opposition parties also reacted to the raids on the DMK minister, calling out the BJP for misusing central agencies.
Statement issued by Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge @kharge condemning the blatant misuse of the ED in searching the office of Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Thiru V. Senthil Balaji. pic.twitter.com/h6o2MzinqN
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 13, 2023
In 2014-2015, while Balaji was the transport minister during the AIADMK regime, a recruitment drive was announced in November 2014 for the posts of reserve crew drivers, crew conductors, junior tradesmen (JTMs), junior assistant (JA), and junior engineer.
According to the ED FIR, Balaji and others received money from several people in lieu of promises of a government job in the Transport Department. Subsequently, many of those who gave money even got jobs in the department.
However, since the Assembly elections were announced and the political scenario changed after the demise of then chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Balaji could not provide jobs to the others who had paid him.
These job aspirants complained to the Central Crime Branch in Chennai, based on which an FIR was filed.
The FIR was challenged by Balaji and his associates in court. Meanwhile, Balaji filed an affidavit stating that he had returned the money to the aspirants and that they had reached a compromise.
The case was investigated and a chargesheet was filed in 2019 before a special court for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
One of the contentions Balaji made in the Madras High Court after the scam surfaced was that there were no jurisdictional facts for the ED to initiate any proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Allowing his petition in September 2022, a bench comprising Justice T Raja and Justice K Kumaresh Babu stayed the FIRs and quashed the summons issued by ED.
The ED challenged the order before the Supreme Court. In October 2022, the apex court bench headed by Justice S Abdul Nazeer set aside the order of the high court and restored the criminal complaint against Senthil Balaji and the others.
Meanwhile, the ED had completed its probe and filed charge sheets in all the cases. Challenging it, Balaji again approached the Madras High Court.
On 31 October, 2022, a single judge who heard the case observed that there were irregularities in the investigation conducted by the ED, and that it had overlooked certain crucial aspects.
The judge directed the ED to conduct a (de-novo) fresh investigation into two cases registered against the minister.
On 16 May this year, a division bench comprising Justices Murari and Ramasubramanian stated that the ED was entitled to proceed further from the stage at which their hands were tied by the impugned order.
The court also observed, “Once a piece of information relating to the acquisition of huge amount of illegal gratification in the matter of public employment has come into the public domain, it is the duty of the ED to register an Information Report.”
It granted the ED two months’ time to complete the investigation and submit the final report.
