Senthil Balaji case: ED denies tampering with evidence

Chennai: Enforcement Directorate (ED), in Madras high court on Thursday, denied allegations of tampering with the digital evidence (pen drive) seized from the residence of former Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji.Additional solicitor general A R L Sundaresan, representing ED, submitted that though there might be thousands of files in the digital device, ED would mention only those it had accessed and that were relevant to the offence committed. There is no scope for the agency to tamper the evidence as the digital devices were in the custody of the court all along, he added. On Wednesday, Senthil Balaji had submitted that initially, it was reported that the pen drive consisted of 284 files/ folders. But in a later report ED modified it as 472 files.ED counsel accused Senthil Balaji of deliberately stalling commencement of trial in the money laundering case. “The probe has established that the accused played a pivotal role, exploiting his official capacity as the then transport minister for personal gain through corrupt and illegal means,” he said.Senthil Balaji directly acquired illicit proceeds resulting from criminal activities linked to scheduled offences, ED’s counsel said. He conspired with co-conspirators, including his brother R V Ashok Kumar, personal assistants, and officials from the transport department, to orchestrate a strategy, ED added.Proceeds of the criminal activities were then laundered, involving layering and integration into the mainstream through cash deposits/associates for subsequent utilization in collusion with other suspects, ED said.The petitioner has filed for bail on the grounds that have been duly decided and settled by various courts, the ASG said. He said the petitioner, by mis-representing all material facts, was yet again raising the same grounds. Mere passage of time is not a change of circumstance to file the successive bail petitions, he added.Recording the submissions, Justice N Anand Venkatesh adjourned the hearing to Feb 19 at 2.15 pm for further hearing.