The Supreme Court will examine whether witnesses in the money laundering case against DMK leader V. Senthil Balaji are under pressure as he was made a minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet soon after his release on bail in the case.
Hearing a plea seeking to review the bail granted to the minister, a bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih expressed surprise over the manner in which Senthil Balaji was reinstated as a minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. The apex court said though it would recall its decision to grant bail to Balaji, it would examine whether witnesses would be in a 'frame of mind’ to testify against the minister.
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"We grant bail and the next day you go and become Minister! Anybody will be bound to be under the impression that now with your position as a senior Cabinet Minister witnesses will be under pressure. What is this going on?" Justice Oka asked while hearing the petition. The bench will next hear the petition on December 13 and has sought responses from the Tamil Nadu government and Balaji, Live Law reported.
The Tamil Nadu minister is facing the Enforcement Directorate’s probe in a cash-for-jobs scam and was arrested by the central agency in June last year. Balaji is accused of accepting bribes for jobs in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation while he was transport minister in the erstwhile Jayalalithaa regime.
The Supreme Court granted him bail on September 26, after 14 months of his arrest, considering that the trial is yet to start in the case. On release from prison, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin made him a minister in the cabinet on September 29.
