Sessions court reserves order in discharge petition of Senthilbalaji

CHENNAI: A sessions court in Chennai reserved the final orders to the petition filed by jailed former minister V Senthilbalaji seeking to discharge him from the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) case connected to the job racket.

After hearing all the submissions, the principal sessions judge S Alli posted the final orders to April 30.

The counsel for the former minister submitted that there are various contradictions found between the bank documents filed in the Court and served to his client.

The counsel also raised suspicion that the dates are changed in the documents which are served to the former minister. Further, the counsel sought the court to subject the document to forensic test.

The special prosecutor for the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) N Ramesh objected to the petitioner's submission regarding the contradictions found in the bank documents.

Senthilbalaji filed a petition seeking to discharge him from the PMLA case connected to the alleged job racket. While the order was reserved in the discharge petition, Senthilbalaji filed a fresh application to advance further arguments.

The principal sessions court allowed the application and served the bank documents including challan, to Senthilbalaji which he sought to advance his submission.

Senthilbalaji was arrested under PMLA, by the Directorate of Enforcement on June 14 at his residence in Chennai.

The investigating agency registered the PMLA case against Senthilbalaji over an alleged cash-for-jobs scam during his tenure as Transport Minister in the then AIADMK regime.