V Senthil Balaji granted bail by Supreme Court in alleged cash-for-jobs scam

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji in the alleged money laundering case linked to the cash-for-jobs scam.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih put onerous conditions while granting relief.

The apex court had reserved its verdict on August 12 after hearing submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and senior advocates Mukul Rohatagi and Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Balaji.



"The SC granted bail to V Senthil Balaji who is incarcerated in the prison as an under-trial prisoner in an ED case for more than 15 months. The long delay which has occurred...could be there in conducting the trials in the predicate offence as well as the PMLA case. The bail has been granted imposing certain conditions that he should appear before the Enforcement Directorate twice a week, he should not tamper with the witnesses and surrender his passport," said DMK MP and Advocate NR Elango.

The Madras High Court had rejected on September 4 the bail plea of the DMK leader challenging an order of a sessions court that refused to discharge him in a money laundering case. The high court ordered that the trial shall be conducted on a day-to-day basis in accordance with the guidelines issued by the top court.


Balaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 by the Enforcement Directorate in a cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister (2011-15) during the then AIADMK regime.

The agency had on August 12, 2023 filed a charge-sheet, running to 3,000 pages against Balaji.