Supreme Court To Hear Senthil Balaji's Bail Plea In PMLA Case On May 15

The Supreme Court today posted to May 15 plea filed by MLA and former Minister V Senthil Balaji against a Madras High Court order denying him bail in a cash-for-jobs money laundering case.

The bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order, taking into account Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's submission that the case would take some time.

During the hearing, Justice Oka expressed the court's inclination to hear the matter, if the parties could confine themselves to 15 minutes. However, Mehta asserted that it was a case of victims being won over, with regard to which there were findings required to be shown. Senior Advocate Aryama Sundaram, on the other hand, pressed that Balaji had been in custody for about 328 days.

Hearing the counsels, the bench listed the matter on May 15, saying that it will hear it on said date.

Notably, though the Madras High Court order was in two parts - first, which denied bail, and second, which directed that the trial be completed within 3 months, notice was issued on April 1 to the extent of the first part. Despite a prayer by Sundaram (appearing for Balaji), the court refused to stay the direction for expediting trial.

Background

To state the facts briefly, Balaji was a Minister in Tamil Nadu government's transport department between 2011-2016. In the said capacity, he was accused of having orchestrated, alongwith his personal assistants and brother, collection of money by promising job opportunities in various positions of the Department. Statedly, several complaints were filed against the accused by candidates who paid money but could not secure employment.

Based on the above allegations, the Enforcement Directorate registered an ECIR and arrested Balaji in June, 2023. When the former Minister approached the Madras High Court for bail, relief was denied for lack of merits. However, considering that Balaji had been incarcerated for more than 8 months, the High Court directed the Special Court to complete the trial within 3 months.

Aggrieved by this order, Balaji approached the Supreme Court.

Case Title: V. Senthil Balaji v. The Deputy Director, SLP(Crl) No. 3986/2024