Madras High Court Grants Four More Months To Complete Trial In Money Laundering Case Against Former TN Minister Senthil Balaji

In February this year, while dismissing the bail application of Balaji, Justice Anand Venkatesh had asked the trial court to complete the trial in three months since Balaji was already in incarceration since June 2023.

Justice Jayachandran today extended this time by four months after the Principal Sessions Judge expressed inability to complete the trial. Writing to the High Court registry, the Judge informed that after the High Court order, the parties were filing multiple petitions and thus the trial could not be completed within the stipulated time.

Opposing this request, Balaji's counsel submitted that even the Supreme Court had ordered High Courts to not fix time for completing trial. The ED, on the other hand, argued that the Minister had been filing petitions in the trial court in an attempt to delay the trial.

Agreeing that delay usually happened because of repeated petitions seeking the same relief, the court said that it was inclined to consider the request of the Principal Judge and thus granted four more months.

In April, while challenging the denial of bail in the Supreme Court, Balaji had argued that the prosecution had still not opened the case under Section 226 CrPC as regards the predicate offense. It was also argued that it was not possible to complete the trial in 3 months. His plea challenging the rejection of bail is pending in the Supreme Court.

Balaji was arrested in June 14, 2023 in connection with a cash-for-job scam money laundering case and has been incarcerated since then.

Case Title: Senthil Balaji v Deputy Director

Case No: Crl OP 1525 of 2024