ED raids across TN in case linked to minister
The raids were conducted at about 25 locations in the southern state, including at Balaji’s hometown in Karur district and in Namakkal district where his friends have businesses and government contracts.
New Delhi/Chennai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted searches at multiple locations across Tamil Nadu as part of a fresh money-laundering probe in connection with alleged irregularities in the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC), including the purported role of its minister Senthil Balaji, officials familiar with the development said.
The raids were conducted at about 25 locations in the southern state, including at Balaji’s hometown in Karur district and in Namakkal district where his friends have businesses and government contracts. Sleuths of the federal agency, accompanied by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, also conducted searches in Chennai, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and some other cities, an official aware of the matter said.
The places searched included offices of TASMAC, its employees, corporate offices of distilleries and plants as well as “key associates” linked to Balaji, officials said. It was, however, not immediately confirmed if any of these premises searched belonged to Balaji, a leader of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Around 20 sleuths conducted searches at a location in Karur linked to a contractor of the public works department (PWD) MC Sankar, who is considered a close associate of Balaji, an official in know of the matter said, requesting anonymity.
Balaji, the minister for electricity, also has TASMAC under his charge. The TASMAC holds monopoly over liquor trade in the southern state. The federal financial crimes probe agency is looking at sale transactions of liquor and the role of some alleged middlemen in connection with TASMAC, officials said.
ED has been probing the role of Balaji in an earlier money laundering investigation liked to the alleged irregularities in recruitments in the state’s transport department between 2011 and 2015, when he held the portfolio in the then AIADMK-led government.
On September 26 last year, the Supreme Court granted Balaji bail in the “cash-for-jobs” case, over a year after he was arrested by ED in June 2023. The case was filed in September 2021.
Within three days of bail, the DMK government reinstated him as the minister for electricity, prohibition and excise, which he helmed before his arrest.
