Chennai: The Income Tax (I-T) department Friday carried out coordinated searches in over 40 properties linked to Tamil Nadu’s minister for electricity, prohibition and excise, V. Senthil Balaji. Properties belonging to Balaji’s brother, Ashok, as well as those owned by other close relatives of the minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, and contractors allegedly close to him were raided, sources in I-T department told ThePrint.
The situation became tense when Balaji’s “supporters” allegedly broke the windshield of the I-T officials’ car, parked outside Ashok’s residence. A video which gone viral on social media, also purportedly shows a woman I-T official being surrounded by alleged Balaji supporters.
Raids began in Karur, Chennai and Coimbatore from around 7 am, sources in Tamil Nadu police told ThePrint, adding that I-T officials had to return without conducting searches at nine properties, after being allegedly stopped by “supporters” of the DMK leader.
Details of the raid are not known yet.
Balaji has been under the scanner following a 16 May Supreme Court verdict, setting aside a Madras high court order from last year and allowing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to continue its investigation against Balaji and some of his alleged aides, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Madras HC had stayed the cases filed against the minister.
The Tamil Nadu police department was given two months by the Supreme Court to complete its investigation in the case of alleged bribery connected to recruitment for the post of reserve crew drivers, crew conductors, junior tradesmen (JTM), junior assistant (JA), and junior engineer in the Tamil Nadu transport department, between 2014-2015. Balaji was then the transport minister in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government.
He joined the DMK — the party currently in power in Tamil Nadu — in 2018.
On Friday, K. Annamalai, chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit in Tamil Nadu, shared purported videos of woman I-T official being allegedly manhandled by DMK supporters at a raid location and wrote, “IT officials manhandled, vehicles vandalised by DMK goons in support of ‘cash for job scam’ Minister Senthil Balaji & his brother. TN CM Thiru @mkstalin should instruct his party men to behave responsibly & remind them that we don’t live in the 60s.”
While BJP ally AIADMK also hit out at the alleged “unprecedented corruption” of the ruling party, the DMK came out in support of Balaji.
The “I-T, ED and CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] are being used by Centre [under BJP] to take revenge on opposition parties. Karnataka election defeat has given fear to the BJP of its future, DMK organisational secretary R.S. Bharati said, while addressing the media at the DMK headquarters in Chennai, Anna Arivalayam.
In elections to the Karnataka assembly held earlier this month, the Congress secured a decisive majority, defeating the then-incumbent BJP.
Bharati also accused Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai of orchestrating the raids against Balaji and called it BJP’s “cheap politics”. Bharati also questioned why the local police were not informed about the raids and taken as escort, as is the normal protocol.
Meanwhile, Balaji, while talking to the media in Chennai Friday said, his residences in Chennai and Karur were not being searched by IT officials. He also alleged that officials had reached his brother Ashok’s residence early morning, and though Ashok was not at home at the time, and even before the residents could open the door, officials had jumped the gate and entered the house.
He added: “According to information, raids are underway in around 40 places, and we will fully cooperate with the investigation.”
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‘Cash-for-jobs scam’
Balaji and his alleged close aides were accused of taking bribes from job aspirants for vacancies in the state transport department between 2014 and 2015.
It has been claimed that while a few of those who allegedly paid the bribe were offered jobs immediately, some names were put in the pending list and these people were assured of jobs after the 2016 state assembly polls.
Though the AIADMK returned to power in 2016, the sudden demise of party supremo and then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and a subsequent split within the party saw Balaji being ousted from the party.
In 2017, in a factional war between then senior AIADMK leader Edappadi Palanisamy (EPS) and Jayalalithaa aide V.K. Sasikala, Balaji had come out in support of Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran. In 2017, though an MLA from Aruvakkuruchi constituency, he was among 18 disqualified MLAs, who had not supported EPS as CM during a vote of confidence in assembly.
Balaji was also instrumental in the formation of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a breakaway faction of the AIADMK led by Dhinakaran.
In December 2018, Balaji joined the DMK in the presence of party chief M.K. Stalin. This was a homecoming for the 47-year-old, who had been a DMK member before joining AIADMK in 2000.
In 2018, based on four complaints that were filed against Balaji and a few others in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam, an FIR was registered under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case was filed before a special court for members of parliament (MPs) and members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) — MP/MLA court — in 2019.
The same year Balaji was again elected MLA in the Aruvakkuruchi by-election, on a DMK ticket. In the 2021 assembly election, contesting from Karur, Balaji won with 101,757 votes.
He approached the Madras HC that year, requesting the FIRs against him be quashed, claiming he had reached a settlement with 13 of the job aspirants. The court accepting this had quashed the proceeding of the special court.
An appeal was, however, filed against this.
The ED meanwhile, taking cognisance of the issue, filed four cases in the alleged cash-for-job scam. After naming Balaji as an accused, a summons was also issued against him by ED in 2019.
The DMK minister then approached the Madras HC again challenging the summons, leading to the court quashing the summons and putting a stay order on the FIRs last year.
Demand for removal from cabinet
Balaji, a four-time MLA, has been now facing stiff resistance from opposition parties.
Days before this month’s Supreme Court judgment in the cash-for-job case, around 22 people had died in the state in two separate cases of hooch tragedy, fuelling demands for Balaji’s resignation from the ministry being raised by the BJP and the AIADMK.
“His department is seeing unprecedented corruption running to thousands of crores. And the money flow allegedly reaches till the top to his boss, M.K. Stalin and family,” claimed AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan, while talking to ThePrint.
Sathyan added: “The recent uproar on social media with reference to selling of liquor above the MRP and selling via unlicensed bars and involvement of gangs from Karur acting as collection agents fixing targets for TASMAC [Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited, which handles all liquor trade in the state] are serious allegations that need to be addressed by the DMK government. In EB (Electricity Board) too there are several glaring issues in awarding contracts and favouring contractors and shoddy deals in electricity procurements. Cash-for-job scam is continuing in this regime as well and allegation of his associates collecting money in return for government jobs is still prevalent.”
Meanwhile, BJP state vice president Narayanan Thirupathy speaking to ThePrint demanded, “The hooligans who tried to attack income tax officials and damaged their vehicles during raids at places related to minister Senthil Balaji in Karur should be arrested under the Goondas Act.” He further added, “Senthil Balaji should be removed from the cabinet as this attack was carried out at his instigation.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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