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Ex-TN Minister Senthil Balaji urges SC to expunge remarks in 2022 order
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....x-TN Minister Senthil Balaji urges SC to expunge remarks in 2022 order<BR>PTI News<BR>Dated:- 10-7-2025<BR>PTI<BR>New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) Former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji has urged the Supreme Court to expunge certain remarks in its September 2022 order restoring criminal complaints against him in the cash-for-job scam. On September 8, 2022, the top court set aside the Madras High Court....
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.... order quashing complaints against the former minister on the basis of settlement between parties. The top court said there was evidence of corrupt practices to secure employment in the Transport Corporation during Balaji's tenure as minister in the Tamil Nadu government (during 2011-2015) and set aside the high court's order saying that the court cannot deal with cases involving abuse of offici....
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....al position and adoption of corrupt practices, like suits for specific performance, where the refund of the money paid may also satisfy the agreement holder. Balaji said the observations made in the September 8, 2022 verdict could influence the trial court in the case and affect his right to fair trial. The top court observed in its 2022 verdict, "We are constrained to say that even a novice i....
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....n criminal law would not have left the offences under the PC Act, out of the final report. The attempt of the IO (investigating officer) appears to be of one 'willing to strike but afraid to wound'." It said the state ought to have undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the entire scam, without allowing the accused to fish out one case as if it was a private money dispute. Balaji conten....
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....ded the trial court was likely to be prejudiced since the top court made the observations against him and it would be a violation of his right to free and fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution. On April 27, Balaji resigned from the M K Stalin-led state cabinet after being pulled up by the top court. The apex court on April 23 asked Balaji to make a choice "between post and freedom" a....
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....s it warned him of cancelling bail if he did not step down as minister in Tamil Nadu. It took exception to the fact that Balaji was reinstated as a Tamil Nadu cabinet minister days after getting bail in a money laundering case related to the "cash-for-job" scam. On September 26, 2024, the top court granted bail to Balaji, who had spent over 15 months in jail and observed there was no possibili....
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....ty of the completion of trial in the near future. Balaji, 48, was sworn in as a minister by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on September 29, last year and was assigned the same key portfolios -- electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition and excise -- he held previously in the Stalin cabinet. Balaji, representing Karur assembly constituency, was arrested on June 14, 2023 in the....
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.... case when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime between 2011 and 2015. On February 13, last year, the TN Governor accepted Balaji's resignation from the council of ministers. The top court's reprieve on September 26, 2024 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 regis....
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....tered by the Tamil Nadu police in 2018 and on the basis of complaints by those aggrieved in the alleged scam. Its chargesheet claimed the entire recruitment process in the state transport department during his tenure as a minister was turned into a "corrupt chiefdom". PTI MNL MNL AMK AMK<BR> News - Press release - PIB....