Former Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji Gets Bail From Supreme Court In Cash-For-Jobs Case

Former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who has been in jail since June 2023 in connection with alleged cash-for-jobs scam, was granted bail today (26 September) by the Supreme Court.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih had reserved its judgment and flagged delay in trial on 12 August 2024.

Justice Oka, while pronouncing the verdict today, said that stringent bail provisions and delay in trial cannot go together.

"We have referred to Najeeb and other judgements. What we have said is that stringent and higher threshold of bail and delay in prosecution cannot go together. And therefore we have slightly expanded the scope in Najeeb and bail granted but there are very onerous conditions put in the bail," Justice Oka said, Livelaw reported.

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the alleged scam took place between 2011 and 2015, when Balaji was the Tamil Nadu transport minister under the AIADMK government led by the late J Jayalalithaa.

Balaji was arrested by the ED in connection with the alleged scam in June 2023 when he was the Electricity Minister under DMK government led by Chief Minister MK Stalin.

He was taken into custody after being questioned for hours and was hospitalised after complaining of chest pain.

The ED submitted a 3,000-page charge sheet against Balaji on 12 August last year.

His previous bail plea was rejected by the High Court on 19 October. A local court had also dismissed his bail petitions thrice.

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