Job For Cash Scam: TN Minister Senthil Babu Breaks Down After ED Arrest

Chennai: Tamil Nadu electricity minister V Senthil Balaji was arrested early on Wednesday morning in connection with a money laundering case, related to job for cash scam in the state transport department. Soon after the arrest, Balaji broke down while sitting in the car.

Balaji served as the transport minister in the AIADMK regime from 2011-16.

Sources in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said that the sleuths also interrogated several other persons in connection with the case, at Balaji’s official residence in Chennai, his brother Ashok’s house in Chennai and at the official chamber at the State Secretariat at Fort St. George.

Balaji, who currently holds Electricity, Excise, and Prohibition portfolios was arrested under the provisions of the PMLA. This arrest was done after extensive searches on premises connected to the minister on Tuesday. The ED searches at the minister’s chamber at the State Secretariat were the first of their kind.

Following his arrest, Balaji complained of chest discomfort, and was shifted to the Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital in Chennai at around 2.30 am for a medical checkup.

The case was booked in March 2021, on the eve of the Assembly elections, when Chennai police filed a chargesheet against Balaji and 46 others. The charges related to a recruitment scam that shook the state in 2014-15.