A Chennai Sessions Court Judge on Friday (September 15) extended the judicial custody of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji for 14 days.
Balaji was produced before the court through video conferencing, from Puzhal Prison.
Balaji was arrested on June 14 by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam when he was the Transport Minister during an earlier AIADMK regime.
Meanwhile, the city court will pronounce orders on the bail plea of the Minister on September 20.
The Minister’s counsel submitted the case was a result of political malice while the ED said that prima facie there was a predicate offence which prompted the agency to conduct further investigation.
Principal Sessions Judge S Alli reserved orders, after hearing elaborate arguments from both sides.
Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal who appeared for Balaji submitted that the latter was a minister in November 2014 and ceased to be so in July 2015.
Sibal said that the entire proceedings were malafide.
The allegation related to cash-for-jobs, but nobody was arraigned as accused except Balaji. They were not even shown as witnesses. One person has given a statement, but whether it was true or false can be tested only in trial. This case was out of political malice. The minister was targeted, he argued.
Sibal said the petitioner will not tamper with the records nor will he influence the witnesses.
“The petitioner underwent a surgery. The latest opinion of the Doctors was that Balaji cannot sit or stand for more than half an hour. Therefore, considering his sickness, bail may be granted to him,” he added.
Additional solicitor general ARL Sunderesan, appearing for ED submitted that the predicate offence was cash-for-jobs scam, which was sufficient to proceed further under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
There was an attempt to compensate by way of compromise. Prima facie there was a predicate offence which paved way for ED to proceed further. The proceeds of crime was at least Rs 1.34 crore which was deposited in the bank in installments for the purpose of make-proof account, which cannot be accepted, because the IT has accepted it. There were plethora of evidence to show the cash-for-jobs scam, he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
