Former minister Senthil Balaji’s custody extended till 19 June

Meanwhile, the judge dismissed three other petitions filed by Balaji.

Also Read: Six-year-old girl sleeping in rice mill compound in Telangana abducted, raped, murdered

Petitions

In one petition, he sought to defer the proceedings in the case till City Union Bank produced the original counter foils/challans used for making deposits in his account and in the account of his wife.

In another petition, he sought a direction to City Union Bank, Karur to furnish the list of bank employees, more specifically the clerk, cashier and manager employed at City Union Bank, Karur for the period 2012 to 2022.

This plea came as the ED had heavily relied on the counter foil challans issued by the bank, referred to as “Relied Upon Documents Nos 16 and 17”, which has been allegedly utilised for depositing the cash by the Petitioner and his wife.

In yet another petition, he sought a direction to the City Union Bank, Karur to furnish the copy of the PAN cards of the Depositors in “RUD Nos 16 & 17” ie the counter foil challans for the period from the year 2016 to 2022.

Senthil Balaji arrest

Balaji was arrested on 14 June by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime.

Soon after his arrest, he underwent a bypass surgery at a private hospital. Later, the ED took him into custody for interrogation, following which he was remanded in judicial custody. His remand has been periodically extended by the court.

Meanwhile, the ED had on 12 August filed a charge sheet, running to 3,000 pages against Balaji.

The Madras High Court had on 19 October dismissed the bail petition filed by Balaji. His earlier bail applications were dismissed twice by the PSJ.

His third bail application was also dismissed by the PSJ on 12 January. His second bail application was dismissed by the high court on 28 February. His earlier petition to defer the trial was dismissed by the PSJ on 15 February.

Also Read: Amit Shah told me to carry out constituency work intensively: Soundararajan

(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)