Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji Spends Over 100 Days In Jail, HIs Brother Still On The Run

Till Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, Stalin’s points man, and serial party hopper hit the national headlines for his arrest on June 13 by the ED, he was only a regional mover and shaker. This talent gave him the heft to party hop. DMK was his fifth hop. TN chief minister MK Stalin honoured him with two critical portfolios — Electricity and cash cow TASMAC. But the laws of nature and physics inevitably bring such a luminary down. The ED’s arrest on charges of money laundering started a newsworthy saga of imprisonment. He had a heart attack, was taken from the Omandurar government hospital (where Stalin visited him) to a private Hospital, rumoured to have had a heart surgery, long and mysterious recovery there and later remanded to custody in Puzhal prison. Jail sources say he is withdrawn and morose. His brother Ashok Balaji still on the run despite ED’s relentless chase; was he a proxy to get his brother?  On September 20, the court denied him the bail and Balaji was remanded to further custody. TN has a tradition of celebrating 100 days run of a film… Balaji has also seen 100 days. Legal opinions aver that if a judge is fully convinced about not finding evidence of guilt in the sections that he is charged, bail is a natural step. Till then he will have to cool his heels.