Former Minister V. Senthilbalaji on Wednesday claimed that the digital evidence such as hard disks and pen drives, relied upon by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to press the charge of money laundering against him, had been tampereed with and manipulated.
Urging Justice N. Anand Venkatesh to grant bail to the accused forthwith, Senior Counsel C. Aryama Sundaram said, once the prime evidence becomes suspect then the prosecution could not be heard to say that it shall prove the authenticity of the evidence only during trial.
The Senior Counsel said, the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 only on the basis of multiple cases that had been registered by the State police regarding alleged cash for jobs scam when the petitioner served as Transport Minister between 2011 and 2015.
