ED writes to Tamil Nadu govt seeking sanction to prosecute Senthil Balaji

CHENNAI: Seven months after the then DMK govt refused to grant prosecution sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the cash-for-job scam case against its minister V Senthil Balaji and others, the federal agency has again written to the chief secretary M Sai Kumar, seeking the state nod to prosecute the ex-minister.

The three-page communication, dated May 15, said its earlier prosecution sanction request dated May 14, 2025, addressed to the then governor, was returned on Feb 23 this year, as per the directions of the state govt. The then chief secretary informed the governor in Oct 2025 that the state govt alone was the competent authority to grant sanction to prosecute a public servant and that the ED should have written to the chief secretary directly instead of approaching the governor.

Now, the ED has enclosed all the relevant evidence along with a secret note on investigation and a copy of the prosecution complaint in a pen drive in the fresh letter. The communication has been duly received and acknowledged by the office of the chief secretary.

The alleged cash-for-jobs in the transport department happened between 2011 and 2016 when Senthil Balaji was the transport minister. ED registered a case against Senthil Balaji, his brother RV Ashok Kumar, personal assistants B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan on charges of money-laundering and accused them of illegal gratification from candidates seeking employment in the transport department. Senthil Balaji was arrested by ED in the case in June 2023.

While Senthil Balaji was released on bail by the Supreme Court in Sept 2024, ED filed a prosecution complaint against him before the special court for PMLA cases in the city. However, the trial is yet to begin in the case, pending sanction from the state govt since he was the minister at the time of commission of the offence.