Senthil Balaji Corruption Case Assigned To District Judge With Reduced Caseload : Madras High Court Informs Supreme Court

The Madras High Court has informed the Supreme Court that the corruption and cheating cases arising out of the cash-for-jobs scam in which Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji is the prime accused have now been assigned to a district judge with a reduced caseload, who will only handle these specific cases.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih recorded –

“Pursuant to the order of this court dated 30th September, 2024, there is a report filed by the Registrar General of the High Court of Madras. The report indicates that a decision has been taken to transfer the cases listed in the order dated 30th September, 2024 to the file of Special Court no. 1 (in the cadre of district judge) for trial of criminal cases relating to MP and MLA, Chennai where number of cases pending are just three as on the date of the report.”

On September 30, the Supreme Court had directed the Madras High Court to appoint another sessions judge to manage the trial due to the heavy workload of the judge overseeing cases involving MPs and MLAs. The Court had emphasized that the trial should be assigned to a judge who would not be overburdened, noting the large scale of this case, which involves over 2,000 accused persons and 600 prosecution witnesses.

Today, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan for the complainants also sought the appointment of a special prosecutor to whom the prosecution should report. He argued, “The public prosecutor reports to the Director of Prosecution who reports to the Home Ministry which is headed by the Chief Minister. Chief Minister Mr. Stalin has tweeted openly saying that Senthil Balaji has been wrongly incarcerated, he has been framed etc. This chain of command will not work if justice to be seen to be done. I am asking that a special prosecutor be appointed by this court to whom the prosecutor will report. Let there be no reporting to the very accused indirectly.”

Justice Oka questioned whether the Supreme Court could direct a prosecutor to report to another prosecutor. Sankarnarayanan responded that this has been done in the 2G spectrum case and said that he would file an application on this matter.

Background

During Balaji's tenure as the transport minister in Tamil Nadu between 2011 and 2016, he along with his associates was accused of collecting money in exchange for job promises in the transport department. Multiple complaints were filed by job candidates who alleged that they paid money but did not secure employment.

Balaji faces charges under Section 420 (cheating) and other sections of the IPC and Sections 7, 12, and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Based on this, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case and arrested him in June 2023. Advocate Zoheb Hossain, representing the ED, has earlier submitted before the Supreme Court that of the three predicate offences against Balaji, one case involves over 2,000 accused individuals.

Earlier, the Madras High Court had denied Balaji bail. The High Court found no merit in Balaji's claims of evidence tampering, noting that the investigation was based on documents already present in the predicate offence, which were not challenged by Balaji.

Despite Balaji's argument that he was no longer a minister, the High Court noted that his continuation as a Minister without portfolio after his arrest indicated his significant influence. The Court observed that Balaji's influence could lead to the potential manipulation of witnesses, especially since there were earlier allegations of him attempting to compromise the predicate offence.

Aggrieved by the denial of bail, Balaji approached the Supreme Court, which granted him bail on the ground of delay in trial of the money laundering cases as well as the predicate offences.

During the bail hearings, the Supreme Court raised questions about the feasibility of proceeding with the PMLA trial without the completion of the trial in the predicate offence, which involves over two thousand accused.

Case no. – MA 1381/2024 in Crl.A. No. 1677/2023

Case Title – Y. Balaji v. Assistant Commissioner of Police Central Crime Branch (Job Racketing) And Anr.

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