What ED custody petition says about case against Senthil Balaji

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in its affidavit filed in court on Wednesday (June 14) seeking custody of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, accused him of being part of a jobs-for-money scam as the state transport minister from 2011 to 2015.

The ED alleged that Balaji, his brother RV Ashok Kumar, and two persons identified as B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan, “entered into a criminal conspiracy with the then managing directors of all State Transport Undertakings (STU) and other officers of transport corporations to obtain illegal gratification from candidates to recruit them as drivers, conductors, Junior Tradesmen (JTM), Junior Assistants, Junior Engineer (JE) and Assistant Engineer(AE) in the transport corporation.”

“Illegal instructions” by Balaji

According to the ED’s petition, Shanmugam and Karthikeyan “executed all illegal instructions” by Balaji. After the interviews, Shanmugam, Ashok Kumar, and Karthikeyan would allegedly collect money from the candidates on behalf of Balaji for issuing appointment orders.

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“The entire appointment process was made in a fraudulent and dishonest manner and only in accordance with the lists provided by” the trio following the directions of Balaji, the ED alleged in the petition.

The petition further mentions that “after obtaining the pecuniary advantage from the candidates”, Balaji and his aides “fraudulently manipulated the marks secured by the candidates and approved their appointment orders”.

However, it goes on to state that “most of the candidates who had already paid the money neither got appointment orders nor their money back as promised” by the four accused.

Evidence in the case

The ED said in the petition that three of the aggrieved job-seekers had lodged complaints, and the cases were pending trial before the Additional Special Court for Trial of Cases Related to Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.

As evidence, the ED cited bank statements showing cash deposits of Rs 1.34 crore in the accounts of Balaji and Rs 29.55 lakh in his wife S Meghala — “huge compared to their incomes disclosed in ITRs” (income tax returns).

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The agency has also claimed in the petition that Balaji, Ashok Kumar, and Shanmugam were summoned multiple times in 2022 but they never appeared and “repeatedly requested for adjournment without any valid reasons”. According to the ED, it indicates the “evasive nature of these suspects”.

Among the other evidence cited are statements of a few suspects, including officials involved in the scam, statements of a few candidates, and statements of a few accused, including mediators between candidates and Balaji.

The ED also stated that it has documents establishing the relationship among Balaji and his PAs and those “related to recruitment of drivers, conductors, junior tradesman, junior engineers, assistant engineers”.

Reason for arrest

The petition added that “the transactions … and the materials gathered during the course of the investigation including the statements given by some accused/victims/witnesses clearly point out the commission of offence of money laundering.”

Regarding Balaji’s arrest, the ED stated that otherwise, “there will be a chance that he may tamper with and destroy the evidences, which are required in investigation in present case.”

The Chennai Principal Sessions court remanded Balaji in judicial custody till June 28.