TN minister Senthil Balaji taken to Chennai hospital for ‘health check-up’

Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in June in connection with a money-laundering case, was taken to the government-run Stanley Medical College in Chennai early on Monday morning.

Though no official bulletin has been released by the hospital yet, sources said the DMK leader, who is lodged at the Central Prison in Puzhal was brought in for a health check-up. 

Balaji, who currently holds no portfolio in the MK Stalin-led DMK government in the state, was seen entering the hospital in a wheelchair amid tight security.

The minister was arrested on June 14 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam that surfaced in 2015 in the Tamil Nadu transport department when he was the transport minister in the erstwhile AIADMK government led by the late J Jayalalithaa.

The arrest was made after an 18-hour-long interrogation and search of his official residence and chambers at the state Secretariat.

Days later, Balaji was hospitalised and underwent a bypass surgery at Chennai’s Kauvery hospital. He reportedly has a history of cardiac issues.