The Enforcement Directorate on Monday opposed the bail application of Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, arrested in a money laundering case, in the Madras High Court, saying his is “stable and healthy”. The agency also denied the minister’s claim that he had fully cooperated with the investigation while in custody.
After hearing both the sides, Justice G. Jayachandran reserved the order without specifying any date.
“The respondent vehemently denies the averment of the petitioner (Senthil Balaji) that he is sick or for that matter that petitioner has any sort of medical issues, which can be qualified to be not-normal,” the Investigation Officer (IO) of the Enforcement Directorate Karthik Dasari told the high court.
“Furthermore, the respondent vehemently denies the claim made by the petitioner that he has extended full cooperation during the departmental custody for detailed reasons,” the officer further said in an affidavit.
Balaji had filed a bail petition in the high court on October 11, seeking relief on medical grounds. The court had instructed the ED to file its counter affidavit on or before October 16.
In its affidavit, the central agency said Balaji was “completely non-cooperative” even during the nascent stage of the investigation by disregarding the summons issued by it.
On June 14, 2023, after the agency conducted a search under Section 17 of PMLA, the minister did not cooperate and “behaved in evasive and threatening manner towards the officers”, the ED said.
The agency also alleged that when it tried to record his statement with two other witnesses, the minister did not respond to any of the questions posed.
And since, the ED said, the minister was not explaining any of the incriminating documents confronted and not substantially answering any of the questions posed.
“He has conveniently evaded the response by simply stating that he has answered to the extent he knows. It is clearly evident that the accused chose to not cooperate with the Directorate by refusing to respond to the queries or for that matter, at multiple times even acknowledge the queries. Hence, the contention of the minister that he has suffered incarceration for 117 days is an unnecessary over emphasis,” the agency said.
The ED further said that the minister “is habitual of influencing the witnesses and even the victims. Hence the contention that he will not tamper with witnesses is false and incorrect and stoutly denied.”
“It is evident that he is a very influential and powerful person and if he is granted bail, there is a high probability that the accused will misuse his liberty to influence, derail or hamper the investigation as well as threaten the witnesses. The past record of the accused and his brother Ashok Kumar clearly establishes he is a highly influential person and known for their notorious acts,” the agency said in its affidavit.
“As per the medical reports themselves, there is nothing of any sort which would qualify the petitioner as sick or for that matter there is nothing which can be called as not-normal. Rather, the Directorate strongly contends that the petitioner, with an intention to get bail, is attempting to create a smokescreen of some sort of illness again now using his distant old past heart surgery, which happened more than three months back. And he is now very stable, hale and healthy,” the ED informed the court.
Balaji, a minister without portfolio, was arrested by the ED in June this year in a 2011 cash-for-job scam case. He is now lodged in the Puzhal prison in Chennai.
