Chennai, June 20 (IANS). A police team from Karur district reached the Chennai residence of senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Tamil Nadu Electricity and Excise Minister V. Senthil Balaji on Saturday. After this action, discussions have intensified in the political circles of the state, as the former minister is already facing investigation by several investigating agencies.
According to sources, the Karur police team reached Senthil Balaji’s residence in MRC Nagar and interrogated him there. However, Senthil Balaji was not present at home when the police arrived. It is being told that the police was also searching for his brother Ashok and is gathering information in some cases related to him.
However, the reason for this police action is not yet clear. No official statement has been issued by Karur District Police and Tamil Nadu Police Headquarters regarding on the basis of which case or complaint the inquiry was conducted.
Senthil Balaji, counted among the influential DMK leaders of Western Tamil Nadu, has been on the radar of many investigating agencies for the last few years. Investigation into many cases related to his tenure is still going on.
The most famous of these is the alleged ‘cash-for-job’ scam, which is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In this case, ED has already raided the premises related to him.
Apart from this, ED had also conducted raids at many places across the state regarding alleged corruption and irregularities in Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC). The Income Tax Department had recently also searched the premises belonging to close associates of Senthil Balaji.
The matter of alleged irregularities in transformer purchase during the tenure of the former Power Minister is also under investigation. Investigative agencies are probing allegations of possible loss to the government exchequer in a procurement transaction worth about Rs 400 crore.
Recently, another controversy came to light when hard disks containing important records were reported missing from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board headquarters at Anna Salai, Chennai. Based on the complaint, Chintadripet police have registered a case and started investigation.
In this background, Saturday’s action by Karur Police has given rise to speculations about new developments in the cases related to Senthil Balaji. However, the police officials have currently maintained silence on this entire matter and the real reason for the inquiry has not been revealed yet.
–IANS
dsc
