Supreme Court granted bail to V. Senthil Balaji, former Transport Minister of Tamil Nadu, in PMLA case after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate 15 months back.
Judgment dated 26th September 2024
Cause title : V. Senthil Balaji Vs The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement
Case No: Criminal Appeal No. 4011 of 2024
A Bench of Supreme Court Hon'ble Justice Mr. Abhay S Oka and Hon'ble Justice Augustine George Masih granted bail to Mr. V. Senthil Balaji, former Transport Minister of Government of Tamil Nadu, under stringent conditions. He has spend 15 months in Jail after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate. Bail conditions as directed by the Hon'ble Supreme court are:
"a. The appellant shall furnish bail bonds in the sum of Rs.25,00,000/- (Rupees twenty-five lakhs only) with two sureties in the like amount;
b. The appellant shall not directly or indirectly attempt to contact or communicate with the prosecution witnesses and victims of the three scheduled offences in any manner. If it is found that the appellant directly or indirectly made even an attempt to contact any prosecution witness or victim in the scheduled as well as offences under the PMLA, it will be a ground to cancel the bail granted to the appellant;
c. The appellant shall mark his attendance every Monday and
Friday between 11 am and 12 noon in the office of the Deputy
Director, the Directorate of Enforcement at Chennai. He shall also
appear on the first Saturday of every calendar month before the
investigating officers of the three scheduled offences;
d. Before the appellant is enlarged on bail, he shall surrender his
passport to the Special Court under the PMLA at Chennai;
e. The appellant shall regularly and punctually remain present before the Courts dealing with scheduled offences as well as the Special Court and shall cooperate with the Courts for early disposal of cases; and
f. If the appellant seeks adjournments on non-existing or frivolous grounds or creates hurdles in the early disposal of the cases mentioned above, the bail granted to him shall be liable to be cancelled."
Facts of the case are:
Between 2011 and 2016, the Mr. V. Senthil Balaji was holding the
post of Transport Minister in the Government of Tamil Nadu. Broadly,
the allegation against the him is that while discharging his duties
as a Minister, in connivance with his personal assistant and his
brother, he collected large amounts by promising job opportunities
to several persons in various positions in the Transport Department.
This led to the registering of three First Information Reports
against Mr. V. Senthil Balaji and others. In the first FIR, six
charge sheets have been filed. More than 2000 accused have been
named in the charge sheets. 550 witnesses have been named. In the
case of the second FIR, there are 14 accused named in the
chargesheet. In connection with this FIR, 24 witnesses have been
cited. In the third FIR, 24 accused have been named in the charge
sheet and 50 prosecution witnesses have been cited. The offences
alleged in the aforementioned crimes are mainly under Sections 120B,
419, 420, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 7, 12,
13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1988. Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code has been invoked.
These offences
are scheduled offences within the meaning of Section 2(y) of the
PMLA. Therefore, relying on the final reports filed in
aforementioned scheduled offences, for an offence of money
laundering under Section 3 of the PMLA punishable under Section 4,
the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered an Enforcement Case
Information Report bearing ECIR No. MDSZO/21/2021 on 29th July 2021.
The Mr. V. Senthil Balaji was arrested on 14th June 2023 in
connection with the said ECIR and was remanded to judicial custody.
A complaint was filed for the offence under Section 3 of the PMLA
Act, which is punishable under Section 4, on 12th August 2023. The
Mr. V. Senthil Balaji is the only accused named in the complaint.
Cognizance has been taken based on the complaint by the Special
Court under the PMLA. The scheduled offences cases have been
transferred to the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Additional
Special Court for Trial of Criminal Cases related to Elected Members
of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu
(Special MPMLA Court), Chennai.
Observation and Direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court:
"28. Some day, the courts, especially the Constitutional
Courts, will have to take a call on a peculiar situation that arises
in our justice delivery system. There are cases where clean
acquittal is granted by the criminal courts to the accused after
very long incarceration as an undertrial. When we say clean
acquittal, we are excluding the cases where the witnesses have
turned hostile or there is a bona fide defective investigation. In
such cases of clean acquittal, crucial years in the life of the
accused are lost. In a given case, it may amount to violation of
rights of the accused under Article 21 of the Constitution which may
give rise to a claim for compensation.
29. As stated earlier, the appellant has been incarcerated for 15
months or more for the offence punishable under the PMLA. In the
facts of the case, the trial of the scheduled offences and,
consequently, the PMLA offence is not likely to be completed in
three to four years or even more. If the appellant's detention is
continued, it will amount to an infringement of his fundamental
right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India of speedy trial.
30. The decisions the learned SG relied upon indicate that the
appellant's influential position in the State may have resulted in a
so-called compromise between the bribe givers and the bribe takers.
Considering the apprehension of the appellant tampering with the
evidence, stringent conditions must be imposed.
31. Therefore, the appeal is allowed, and the appellant shall be
enlarged on bail till the final disposal of CC No. 9 of 2023 pending
before the Principal Session Judge, Chennai, on the following
conditions:"
Download Judgment dated 26th September 2024 in V. Senthil Balaji Vs The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Criminal Appeal No. 4011 of 2024.