Chennai: V Ashok, brother of Tamil Nadu electricity minister V Senthilbalaji, appeared before the special court for Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases on Wednesday. Ashok, who had been declared an absconding accused, and 11 others appeared before the court in response to summons issued to them.
When the case came up for hearing, the ED presented documents of around 5,000 pages, along with the additional charge sheet. Counsel representing the accused requested that the documents be provided in paper form rather than electronically and emphasized that only after receiving the paper documents would the evidence be considered validated.
However, special judge S Karthikeyan said that according to the new law, copies of the documents could be provided electronically. The court then ordered the accused to submit bail bonds of 2 lakh each by April 20 and adjourned the hearing to April 25. The issue pertains to a case registered by the central crime branch, Chennai, against Senthilbalaji in connection with a job racket when he was transport minister in the then AIADMK govt. Based on this case, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.