A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court including Justice MM Sundresh and Justice AS Bopanna allowed the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to have Senthil Balaji’s custody in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam in the state’s transport department for five days till August 12, 2023. Moreover, the legality of the arrest of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party leader was upheld by the Supreme Court. The bench today dismissed two separate petitions filed by Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala challenging the ED custody in the money laundering and Madras High Court’s order allowing the ED to take Balaji into police custody respectively. On June 14, Senthil Balaji was arrested after an 18-hour-long interrogation by the ED. Along with this, a search was conducted of his official chamber and residence at the state Secretariat. After the arrest, he was hospitalized due to chest pain and underwent surgery (beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery).