The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji’s brother Ashok in Kerala’s Kochi in a money laundering case in June and July of this year, said the probe agency.
The ED’s statement came after reports claimed that Senthil Balaji’s brother Ashok had been detained by the probe agency on Sunday (August 13) in connection with the case.
On August 10, the ED had frozen a property belonging to Ashok Balaji’s wife Nirmala, after several rounds of raids and a detailed inquiry into assets acquired by DMK minister Senthil Balaji and his relatives.
The Enforcement Directorate has also filed a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet against Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji as part of a continuing money laundering investigation against him and his aides.
So far, only Senthil Balaji has been named in the chargesheet.
Senthil Balaji was arrested on June 14 in a money laundering case initiated by the ED based on the cash for job case registered by the Central Crime Branch police, Chennai, when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime.
On Saturday (August 12), after five days of questioning by the central probe agency, Senthil Balaji was sent to judicial custody until August 25.
A few days ago, on August 7, the Supreme Court dismissed the pleas filed for the release of Senthil Balaji.
The DMK leader has been lodged in Puzhal Central Jail.
(An earlier version of this story said that Ashok Balaji had been detained by the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case. The error has now been corrected)
