SC Declines ED Plea on DMK Leader V Senthil Balaji
The ED pleaded that Senthil should be barred from holding ministerial office till the trial concludes but the court said his resignation had already been accepted by TN Governor
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined the Enforcement Directorate’s plea to bar DMK leader V. Senthil Balaji from holding ministerial office until his trial concludes, noting that his resignation had already been accepted by the Tamil Nadu Governor.
A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih perused a government press release confirming Balaji’s resignation and said there was “no occasion to entertain this application.”
The Court had on April 23 warned Balaji to choose “between post and freedom,” threatening to cancel his bail if he did not step down. Balaji had secured bail on September 26, 2024, after spending over 15 months in custody in a money-laundering case tied to the “cash-for-job” scam.
Arrested on June 14, 2023, during the AIADMK regime, he was reinstated as a Cabinet minister on September 29, 2024, only days after his bail order — a move the ED had challenged. Balaji, 48, had held portfolios including electricity, non-conventional energy, prohibition, and excise in the Stalin ministry.
