'What is going on?' asks SC; voices concern after DMK's Senthil Balaji becomes minister post-bail

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over reinstatement of DMK leader V Senthil Balaji as Cabinet minister in Tamil Nadu just days after it granted bail in the money laundering case related to the cash-for-job scam, and agreed to examine a plea raising apprehensions on independence of witnesses in the case.

"We granted you bail and days after you go and become minister. Anybody will be bound to be under the impression that now with your position as a senior cabinet minister, witnesses will be under pressure. What is this going on?" a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Balaji.

The bench, however, refused to interfere with the September 26 order of the apex court granting bail to Balaji on a plea filed by one of the complainants seeking its cancellation.

The bench made it clear it would not recall the order as the law laid down by the top court was benefitting several other persons.

Justice Oka further said the court would not issue any notice in the matter but limit the scope of enquiry to whether the witnesses would be "under pressure" to depose in the case.

"The apprehension is that considering the seriousness of allegations against the second respondent (Balaji) in the predicate offences, the witnesses may not be in the frame of mind to depose against the second respondent who is holding the position of Cabinet minister.

"This is the only aspect on which prima facie we are inclined to consider the application, and while making it clear that there is no reason to interfere with the judgement on merits and adjudication of the application remains confined to the aforesaid," the bench wrote in its order.

It then asked Balaji's counsel Ram Sankar to get instructions and posted the matter for further hearing on December 13.

The bench noted that the current plea, filed by one of the complainants K Vidhya Kumar, was based on the apprehension that immediately after the grant of bail Balaji was appointed a cabinet minister.

On October 25, the top court in another matter related to Balaji was informed that a petition seeking review of an order of bail to the DMK leader in the case had been filed.

The top court granted bail Balaji after he was in jail over 15 months, noting there was no possibility of the completion of trial in the near future.

On September 30, the top court directed the Madras High Court chief justice to appoint another judge for the trial against Balaji.

Balaji, 48, was sworn in as a minister by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on September 29 and was assigned the same key portfolios -- electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition and excise -- he held previously in the Stalin Cabinet.

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) arrested Balaji, representing Karur assembly constituency, on June 14, 2023 in the case when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime between 2011 and 2015.

On February 13, the TN Governor accepted Balaji's resignation from the council of ministers. The top court's reprieve on September 26 ended Balaji's 471-day incarceration.

The ED had filed a case of money laundering in July 2021 to probe the allegations after three FIRs were registered by the Tamil Nadu police in 2018 and on the basis of complaints by those aggrieved in the alleged scam.

The agency's chargesheet claimed the entire recruitment process in the Tamil Nadu transport department during the tenure of Balaji as minister was turned into a "corrupt chiefdom", and the scam was executed under his authority.

Being a public servant, Balaji "misused" his official capacity as the then transport minister and obtained pecuniary benefits by corrupt and illegal means and directly acquired the proceeds of crime, generated out of a criminal activity related to a scheduled offence, the agency alleged.