The Supreme Court on Friday decided to examine a request by former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji to ease some of the bail conditions imposed on him in the money laundering case linked to the alleged cash-for-jobs scam.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and asked the agency to respond within 10 days. The matter will be taken up again on December 1.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Narendra Hooda, appearing for Balaji, told the court that he is seeking modification of two specific conditions in the existing bail order. The first requires him to mark attendance every Monday and Friday at the ED’s Chennai office between 11 am and 12 noon. The second mandates that he appear before investigating officers in three scheduled offences on the first Saturday of each month and remain regularly present before all trial courts handling the connected cases.
Sibal argued that these conditions have become redundant, as the probe is complete and the ED has already filed its charge sheet. He added that Balaji has appeared before the agency 116 times since being granted bail on September 26 last year.
“During this period, I have never absconded and appeared before ED officers as directed by the court,” he submitted.
Opposing the request, ED counsel Zoheb Hussain said the court had earlier imposed these conditions after assessing the possibility of Balaji influencing witnesses. “These conditions have ensured smooth conduct and progress of the trial,” he said.
The bench indicated that, for now, it would not consider relaxing the condition requiring Balaji to appear before trial courts. However, it asked the ED to clarify whether continued attendance before its deputy director is still necessary now that the charge sheet has been filed.
Balaji was granted bail on September 26 last year after spending over 15 months in custody. The Supreme Court had noted at the time that the trial — involving over 2,000 accused and more than 600 witnesses — was unlikely to conclude soon, and that prolonged incarceration would violate his right to personal liberty under Article 21.
Nonetheless, the court had put in place strict safeguards in response to submissions by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that Balaji could influence witnesses. Apart from requiring him to furnish a ₹25-lakh bond with two sureties, the court barred him from contacting witnesses and directed him to surrender his passport.
Balaji was arrested by the ED on June 14, 2023, in connection with the money laundering investigation into the alleged cash-for-jobs scam that purportedly took place during his tenure as Transport Minister in a previous AIADMK government. The ED filed a 3,000-page charge sheet on August 12, 2023.
