Supreme Court summons Secretary of T.N. Governor in cash-for-jobs case against former AIADMK Minister Rajenthra Bhalaji
The Hindu
Supreme Court directs Tamil Nadu Governor's office to explain steps taken in cash-for-jobs scam involving former AIADMK Minister.
The Supreme Court on Friday (March 7, 2025) has directed the Principal Secretary of Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi to personally appear and file an affidavit on the steps taken by his office regarding the requests for sanction to prosecute former AIADMK Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji in a cash-for-jobs scam case.
A Bench of Justices Pankaj Mittal and S.V. Bhatti sought information on what was done by the Governor’s office in pursuance of two communications sent by Tamil Nadu government on February 4 and March 5, requesting sanction.
Tamil Nadu Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari and advocate Sabarish Subramanian appeared for the State government.
Earlier last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a cheating case against Mr. Bhalaji who was the former Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, former AIADMK union secretary Nallathambi and former AIADMK member Mariyappan of Thayilpatti following a Madras High Court directive in January this year.
The case was initially registered with the Crime Branch in Virudhunagar on November 15, 2021, based on a complaint by S. Ravindran that he was cheated of ₹30 lakh on the promise of arranging a job for his sister’s son. On the same day, Nallathambi lodged another complaint alleging that he had collected money from different persons and handed over ₹1.6 crore to people close to Mr. Bhalaji for getting jobs in government departments. The alleged victims had been promised various jobs in the State government departments including in the State-run dairy cooperative Aavin.
After his anticipatory bail petition was rejected by Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in December 2021, Mr. Bhalaji went absconding. The then Virudhunagar district Superintendent of Police, M. Manohar, formed special teams to nab him and also issued lookout circular to prevent him from leaving the country. Later in January 2022, the police arrested him in Karnataka after a hot chase. In less than a week, he was out of prison after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
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