The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed pleas of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the Madras High Court order upholding his arrest in a money laundering case.
A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh also referred to a large bench on the issue that police custody is not permissible beyond the first 15 days of remand.
Balaji, who continues to be a minister without portfolio in the Tamil Nadu government even after his arrest on June 14, and his wife assailed a Madras High Court order upholding his arrest by the probe agency in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the state's transport department.
ED recovers valuables from locations linked to Balaji
The Enforcement Directorate recovered unaccounted valuables worth more than Rs 16 lakh and Rs 22 lakh in cash from the premises of a driver after fresh searches were conducted against Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and others in connection with a money laundering probe.
The searches were undertaken on August 3 in Coimbatore and Karur districts of the state, covering nine locations linked to Balaji, who is currently lodged at Puzhal central jail in Chennai under judicial custody.
The ED filed a case of money laundering in September 2021 to probe these allegations and its complaint is based on three Tamil Nadu Police FIRs filed during 2018 and some later years by some of those who failed to get the promised jobs.
