DMK’s Senthil Balaji Returns to Tamil Nadu Cabinet After Getting Bail in Money-Laundering Case

Chennai: After getting bail from the Supreme Court in a money laundering case, DMK leader V. Senthil Balaji was reinducted into the Tamil Nadu cabinet.

He took oath on Sunday. He has been assigned the same key portfolio of “electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition & excise”, which he held previously in the Stalin cabinet before his arrest by the ED and reisignation.

Three other DMK MLAs — Govi Chezhiaan (Thiruvidaimarudur), R. Rajendran (Salem-North) and S.M. Nasar (Avadi) — were also sworn in.

They were sworn-in in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi, who has been made the deputy chief minister.

The ED had arrested Balaji on June 14, 2023 in a money-laundering case linked to a cash-for-jobs scam when he was transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime (2011-15).

On September 26, the Supreme Court granted bail to Balaji and he came out of jail after 471-day incarceration.