This development comes after Senthil Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths in the early hours of Wednesday under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday (June 15) urged governor RN Ravi and made a recommendation to change portfolios of Senthil Balaji. State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu will hold additional charge of electricity and incumbent Housing Minister Erode Muthusamy will hold additional charge of Prohibition and Excise depts.
This development after Senthil Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths in the early hours of Wednesday under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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Senthil Balaji (47) was serving as the Minister of Electricity, Prohibition and Excise in MK Stalin's cabinet. On June 13, the ED sleuths stormed the residences and places connected to Senthil Balaji in Chennai and in his hometown Karur.
The ED officials had also raided Senthil Balaji's chamber in the Chief Secretariat in connection to the money laundering in the job racket case.
Senthil Balaji has been accused of swindling money from the job aspirants with a promise of providing jobs as drivers, conductors, and mechanic workers in the state transport corporation when he was serving as the Transport Minister in the ADMK reign led by Jayalalaithaa from 2011 to 2015.
The case was ten year old and had taken various turns till it came under the ED probe, which is India's premier agency that investigates money laundering scams.
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On June 14, Senthil complained of chest pain, moments after he was taken into custody, and he was rushed to the Omandurar Government Multispecialty hospital in Chennai.
He underwent angiogram procedure which revealed that he had triple vessel disease and the hospital has advised a bypass surgery for him.
In the midst of protest against the ED by the DMK leaders who alleged that the central agency has harassed him during his custody, efforts were taken legally to acquire bail for the minister.
