The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a counter-affidavit in the Principal Sessions Court alleging that Minister Senthilbalaji has been attempting to stall the trial of the case against him.
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On Monday, the court extended the remand of Mr. Senthilbalaji till Wednesday, when he appeared before it through videoconference from prison. He was arrested by the ED on June 14, 2023, in a money laundering case. During the previous hearing, he filed a petition seeking to defer the trial of the case by raising certain legal issues. Therefore, till the disposal of the predicate offences, the court should not frame charges against him, the Minister argued in his petition.
When the matter came up for hearing before Principal Sessions Judge S. Alli, the special public prosecutor for the ED, N. Ramesh, filed a counter-affidavit.
“The sole motive of the accused in filing the present petition is to halt the trial proceedings, and the same amounts to gross abuse of the process of law. Therefore, this court may be pleased to reject the petition,” the affidavit said.
