Tamil Nadu: ED Summons Minister Senthil Balaji's Brother, Others For Questioning Next Week

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned arrested Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji's brother R V Ashok Kumar, personal assistant B Shanmugam and others for questioning next week in an alleged cash-for-jobs linked money laundering case, officials said on Friday.

The two, along with some other accused and a woman who is suspected to be linked to an alleged 'benami' land deal related to the minister, have been called for recording their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

They have been asked to depose before the agency at its office here on different dates next week. The agency had earlier claimed that Balaji allegedly "misused" his office for illegal gratification and "engineered" a job racket scam in the state's transport undertakings during 2014-15 with purported kickbacks paid by candidates through his associates who included Kumar and Shanmugam.

Balaji, 47, was arrested by the ED on Wednesday and is currently in hospital. Calling the minister the "prime suspect" in the cash-for-jobs case, the federal probe agency also stated in its custody papers that alleged unaccounted cash deposits worth about Rs 1.60 crore were made in the bank accounts of Balaji and his wife.

The case against Balaji and his aides pertains to his tenure as the state transport minister in the AIADMK government during 2011-15. It is alleged that he along with Kumar, Shanmugam and another person, identified as M Karthikeyan, "conspired" with the managing directors of all state transport undertakings and other officers of transport corporations to obtain "illegal gratification" from candidates to recruit them as drivers, conductors, junior assistants, junior engineer and assistant engineer in the transport corporation during 2014-15.

The "entire appointment process was made in a fraudulent and dishonest manner and only in accordance with the lists provided by Shanmugam, R V Ashok Kumar, M Karthikeyan, as per the directions of Balaji", the ED had alleged.

These four are alleged to have collected money from the candidates "on behalf of Balaji" for issuing appointment orders. It is also alleged that the candidates who paid the money "neither got appointment orders nor their money back". The ED filed a case of money laundering in September 2021 to probe these allegations and its complaint is based on three Tamil Nadu Police FIRs filed during 2018 and some later years by some of those who failed to get the promised jobs.