The Supreme Court on May 16 paved the way for the Crime Branch investigation to continue against Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji, who is accused of taking bribes in exchange for jobs in the Metro Transport Corporation (MTC).
A Bench of Justices Krishna Murari and V. Ramasubramanian set aside a Madras High Court order of October 31 last year, directing de novo or fresh investigation against the Minister.
“The investigation officer is to proceed with further investigation in all cases,” the court ordered.
The High Court order of October 2022 had the effect of nullifying a Supreme Court judgment of September 8, 2022 which had restored the criminal case against the Minister.
On May 16, the judgment, authored by Justice Ramasubramanian, also gave the green signal for the initiation of proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in related money laundering charges against the Minister.
The High Court had earlier quashed the ED summons issued against the Minister and other accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act case.
The court further kept it open for the constitution of a Special Investigation Team in the future.
As of now, the court said the investigation against the Minister and the accused persons in the case should be completed within two months.
Justice Ramasubramanian orally remarked after pronouncing the judgment about the fluidity of roles played by the different actors in the case. The judge was referring to how a “compromise” was struck between the “bribe-giver” and “bribe-taker”.
Even the September 2022 judgment of the apex court had expressed its shock at how the de facto complainant in the corruption case, Arulmani, who worked with MTC, had later become a party to the “collection of money for illegitimate purposes”, filed an affidavit supporting the “compromise” and even went on to claim that he had “never made any allegations against the Minister”.
“In this case, there are two teams, but who is playing for which team is not clear,” Justice Ramasubramanian said on Tuesday.
In September 2022, the apex court had observed that “corruption by a public servant is an offence against the State and the society at large”.
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