Senthilbalaji is unwell and is health is in bad shape: Counsel

CHENNAI: The counsels appearing for jailed minister Senthilbalaji on Friday demanded bail for the petitioner on two grounds. "BJP is pressuring Senthilbalaji to join the saffron party and his health is unwell and deteriorating," senior counsels Kabil Sibal and N R Elango submitted before the principal sessions court, Chennai on Friday.

The principal judge S Alli heard the bail petition and senior counsel Kapil Sibal who appeared for Senthilbalaji contended that the case is made out of political vendetta.

"How come Senthilbalaji alone can be accused of money trail that went for about 9 years," wondered Sibal. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is pressuring Senthilbalaji to join BJP, senior counsel submitted in the open court raising the eyebrows among the fellow advocates. However, the ED denied the contention.

Sibal further contended that the court should not read the twin conditions of section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as white and black at this stage of the trial. Section 45 of PMLA reads that bail can be granted in favour of the accused if the court is satisfied that he is not guilty and he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail. The senior counsel also submitted that the ED has not provided adequate proof that Senthilbalaji received Rs.1.34 crore as a cash for jobs.

The senior counsel N R Elango appeared for Senthilbalaji and contended that the entire ED acquisition is upon electronic evidence which cant be relied on in this present case. A number of electronic gadgets including a pen drive have been seized from Senthilbalaji's residence by the Central Crime Branch (CCB), however the investigation officer (IO) has not noted down the serial number of the seized items. In the course of the investigation they filed a report with the entirely different serial number of the pendrive. The counsel contended that the electronic evidence may be tampered with and said that IO held the pendrive with him illegally for 6 days after the seizure.

The investigation agency took 3 months to extract the data from the pendrive, in the course of the 3 months the 284 documents in the pendrive were reduced to 62, the counsel submitted.

The Additional Advocate General (AAG) A R L Sundaresan contended that the section 45 of PMLA act cannot be interpreted as how the senior counsel interpreted. As the accused is a powerful person and a minister even after his arrest he could tamper the witnesses if let out on bail, the AAG contended.

The AAG said that the mere submission of income tax returns of Senthilbalaji cannot be acceptable to substantiate the cash deposit of the accused's bank account. The AAG also contended that the burden of proof on us is not acceptable under PMLA.

He also contended that bail cannot be granted to the accused on the medical grounds under the act.

After the submission, the principal judge posted the matter to September 20. Meanwhile the Session court extended the judicial custody of Senthilbalaji for another 14 days. It may be noted that Senthilbalaji's judicial custody was extended for a sixth time after his arrest on June 14.