After Senthil Balaji’s Arrest, Tamil Nadu Govt Withdraws General Consent Given To CBI To Probe Cases

India

oi-Prakash KL

Tamil Nadu has become the tenth state to withdraw the general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate cases.

The development comes after Tamil Nadu Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister V Senthil Balaji was arrested on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Earlier, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and West Bengal governments had withdrawn a general consent for investigation by the central agency.

Henceforth, the CBI should get permission from the Tamil Nadu government to investigate cases in the state.

On the other hand, the DMK and Opposition parties have condemned the arrest of Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji by the Enforcement Directorate and called it a “political harassment and vendetta” by the BJP government.

Whereas the central agency has alleged that the minister misused his office for illegal gratification and “engineered” a job racket scam in the state transport undertakings during 2014-15 with purported kickbacks paid by candidates through his associates.

The agency action came months after the Supreme Court allowed a police and ED probe into a cash for jobs scam. The case against Balaji and his aides pertain to his tenure as the state transport minister in the AIADMK government during 2011-15 when he along with his associates including his brother R V Ashok Kumar, PA B Shanmugam entered into a criminal conspiracy with the 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, junior engineer and assistant engineer in the transport corporation during 2014-15, according to a report in PTI.

Meanwhile, a court has sent Senthil Balaji to judicial custody till June 28. before passing the order, Sessions Court Principal Judge S Alli visited the government hospital where Balaji was admitted. While the minister prayed for interim bail and permission to be shifted to a private hospital, the ED sought police custody of Balaji.