Supreme Court rejects review petition against V Senthil Balaji bail

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking review of the order granting bail to Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji in cash for jobs money laundering case. .A Bench of Justices AS Oka and Augustine George Masih also rejected the prayer for an open court hearing. "Having gone through the review petition and the connected papers, we do not find any ground to review the order sought to be reviewed. There is no error apparent on the face of the record," the order passed on December 17 said..Interestingly, the same Bench is currently hearing an application seeking recall of the bail order and has cast serious apprehensions on the way Balaji was appointed as a minister, just a day after being granted bail. .This was noted in the December 17 order rejecting the review petition."An application for recall of the same order is pending which is being heard by the Court," the review dismissal order said.The plea for recall of bail will be heard on January 15, 2025.Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on June 14, 2023.The case against him stemmed from alleged irregularities in the appointment of bus conductors in the Tamil Nadu transport department, as well as the appointment of drivers and junior engineers.The charges are from the time of his tenure as transport minister for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015.After the trial court and the Madras High Court rejected his bail petitions, he eventually approached the Supreme Court for bail. On September 26 this year, the top court allowed his release on bail subject to various conditions including a direction that he should not contact or communicate with witnesses.The Court also ordered him to surrender his passport and cooperate with the trial without seeking adjournments.The review petition against this order has now been dismissed by the Court..[Read Order]