Madras High Court grants sessions court 4 more months to complete Senthil Balaji money laundering trial

The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted four more months to the Principal Sessions Court, Chennai to complete the trial in a money laundering case registered by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) against former Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji..Justice G Jayachandran granted such additional time after Principal Sessions Judge S Alli wrote to the High Court expressing her inability to complete the trial within three months, as mandated by the Court in its February 28 order.Judge Alli wrote to the Madras High Court Registrar General earlier this week. She said that while Justice Anand Venkatesh had dismissed Senthil Balaji’s bail petition on February 28, and directed the trial court to complete the trial within the next three months, the sessions court received a copy of such order only on March 6. By then, Senthil Balaji had already begun filing multiple petitions seeking discharge and other relief. As a consequence, the trial in the case was adjourned multiple times..During the hearing before the High Court on Wednesday, Special Public Prosecutor for the ED N Ramesh confirmed that the former minister had been filing “petition after petition” to delay the trial..Justice Jayachandran then said that he was inclined to grant additional time to the sessions judge to complete the trial.“The trial court judge says she can complete the trial in four months. She is the best judge to decide how long it will take to complete the proceedings. I will grant it. If you are aggrieved against this order, you may take it to the Supreme Court,” Justice Jayachandran said..Balaji was arrested on June 14, 2023 after undergoing questioning by the ED in a money laundering case. 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.His bail application was rejected by a sessions court in Chennai on three previous occasions. His medical bail plea too was rejected by the High Court in October last year.In November 2023, the Supreme Court rejected his medical bail plea saying that his condition did not seem serious. At the time, a Bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma had said that the Court found out from "Google" that the medical condition Senthil Balaji had cited did not appear serious enough to merit his release on medical bail.