Senthil Balaji failed to rebut evidence against him: ED

CHENNAI: The special court for MP and MLA cases, Chennai, has taken cognizance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji in a money laundering case.

The Chennai principal sessions court took the chargesheet filed by the ED against Senthil Balaji on file and transferred the case to the special court.

In a note, the ED said Senthil Balaji was confronted with the incriminating evidence during custodial interrogation, "but he failed to rebut the same and offer any plausible explanation. Instead, he remained non-cooperative and evasive during the investigation proceedings."

The ED during investigation of the case analysed the bank statements which revealed huge cash deposits in the bank accounts of both Senthil Balaji and his wife Meghala. "The ED has collected incriminating evidence indicating the utilisation of proceeds of crime and establishing the nexus and modus operandi of the cash-for-jobs scam," said the agency.

The ED initiated money laundering investigations on the basis of three FIRs registered by Central Crime Branch (CCB), Chennai, in the cash-for-jobs scam.

ED’s investigations revealed that V Senthil Balaji, the then transport minister, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the then managing directors of state transport undertakings (STUs) and other officers of transport corporations and obtained illegal gratification from candidates to recruit them as drivers, conductors, junior tradesmen, junior assistants, junior engineer and assistant engineer in the transport corporations. His brother RV Ashok Kumar and his personal assistants B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan were also involved, it said.