Meanwhile, the Madras High Court resumed its hearing on Tuesday on the habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji's wife Megala.
Income-tax (I-T) sleuths on Tuesday, 11 July, raided more than 10 properties belonging to the associates of Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the charges of money laundering.
This was the third time I-T raids were conducted on the DMK leader’s aides.
With the protection of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the income tax officials carried out searches at several places, including the residence of Subramani, managing partner of Kongu Mess, a restaurant in Rayanur, who is said to be the most trusted aide of Balaji.
Earlier, the I-T officials raided Subramani’s house and seized several documents related to financial transactions involving the minister and his brother.
A team of I-T officials also raided Sri Ramavilas weaving factory in Chinna Andankoil, which is said to be close to Balaji’s brother Ashok Kumar.
The raid continued till Tuesday evening and the officials opened a few premises related to Ashok which were sealed by them in the previous raids.
The first raid was carried out on 26 May and it reportedly lasted for eight days, while the second one happened on 23 June after the minister was arrested by the ED and a few properties were sealed in the two-day raid.
During the raids on May 26, at the house of Ashok at Ramakrishnapuram in Karur, the family members had an altercation with the officials and did not allow the officials inside the house to conduct a search.
Ashok’s family alleged that the officials trespassed into their house by jumping over the locked gates.
Following this, DMK functionaries and cadres gathered in front of Ashok’s house and confronted the I-T officials, demanding to see their ID cards, and one group even had an argument with a woman officer and allegedly tore up the search warrant.
The DMK cadres also damaged the vehicles of I-T officials and raised slogans against the officials.
Meanwhile, Balaji’s brother Ashok was still absconding and hadn’t responded to the summons issued by the I-T department.
After the first raids, the I-T Department summoned Ashok for an explanation of the seized documents. However, Ashok sought time to appear for the first summon but failed to produce himself.
After a couple of weeks, the I-T Department pasted summons on the properties of Ashok for him to appear before its joint director for an enquiry.
As there was no response to it, the I-T Department issued a summons to Ashok for the third time on 27 July for an inquiry.
The I-T Department demanded an explanation based on the documents of financial transactions related to several concerns. The documents were seized during searches conducted last month.
The ED, too, has summoned Ashok Kumar.
Since there was no response from Ashok and his whereabouts were unknown, I-T Department issued a lookout notice to the airports against Ashok.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court resumed its hearing on Tuesday on the habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji’s wife Megala.
After the split verdict by a division bench of Justice J Nisha Banu and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, the case was entrusted to Justice Justice CV Karthikeyan.
Senior Counsels appearing on behalf of Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala, Kapil Sibal and NR Elango, argued that Article 21 of the Constitution was violated in the arrest of Balaji and the procedures contemplated under Section 41A (issuing notice of inquiry) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) were not followed.
It was also argued that the memo issued by ED while arresting Balaji said he was non-cooperative, but nowhere did it state that the grounds of arrest were conveyed to Senthil Balaji.
The advocates also argued that Supreme Court held in several cases that ED had no powers to investigate a case as they are not police officers.
The case has been adjourned to Wednesday for further hearing.
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