CHENNAI: The enforcement directorate on Thursday denied the charges of former minister V Senthil Balaji that the agency had tampered with the evidence, saying all such evidences were obtained from the state police.
“There is no tampering of any digital evidence by ED as the pen drive was seized by the Central Crime Branch of the state government. Forensic test was carried out by the state. The digital evidence was filed in the court by the state agency. ED got certified copies from the court,” Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR L Sundaresan told the court.
The submission was made before Justice N Anand Venkatesh during the hearing of the bail plea filed by Senthil Balaji.
Explaining the root of the generation of proceeds of crime, he recalled the cash-for-job scam in the transport department had happened when Balaji was the transport minister. The number of posts were identified and rate was fixed for each post and money collected under his directions. The total number of posts was 2,916 and the total collection was `67.75 crore.
Following the submission of the ASG, the judge adjourned the matter to Monday for senior counsel C Aryama Sundaram to advance his reply to the ED’s submissions.
Meanwhile, the Principal Sessions and Special Court for PMLA Cases Judge S Alli rejected Balaji’s plea to defer the trial of money laundering case until the CCB completes the probe into the predicate offence case.
‘CAN med report BE filed with poll papers?’
Chennai: The first bench of Madras High Court sought the ECI to file an explanation whether the poll candidates could be asked to file their medical report along with the nomination papers. The explanation was sought on a petition seeking a direction to the ECI to make it mandatory for filing medical report along with the affidavit on assets and criminal cases of the candidates.