Days after being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate, DMK Minister Senthil Balaji has decided to skip the subpoena by citing the upcoming assembly session in Tamil Nadu where the revised budget will be presented. Senthil Balaji, who has been serving as the Minister for Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise, was directed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on August 11 after he was booked by the economic intelligence agency under Money Laundering Act. 

The summon had carried the order for Senthil Balaji to appear before the officials of the Enforcement Directorate in Madurai on August 11 for investigating into the matter. However, on Tuesday, the DMK Minister has decided not to appear before the officials and according to reports, Senthil Balaji has sought a month's time for appearing by citing the upcoming budgetary session in the assembly. Senthil Balaji had become the first minister of MK Stalin's cabinet to receive such a summon in a case of the racket that happened in the Transport Ministry when Senthil Balaji was serving as the Transport Minister in the ADMK regime. 

The Central Crime Branch of Tamil Nadu Police had earlier registered three cases against Senthil Balaji on charges of cheating, while he was serving as the Minister of Transport in the ADMK government. The Enforcement Directorate had filed a fresh case against Senthil Balaji based on these cases and the FIR filed by the Central Crime Branch has said that Senthil Balaji had involved in a conspiracy with senior officials of the state transport undertakings. The conspiracy was unfolded in appointing the ineligible candidates for the jobs by denying jobs to those who deserved them.

Some of the jobs that plotted the conspiracy include conductors, drivers, assistant engineers, and junior engineers. While Senthil Balaji was serving as the Transport Minister, some of the department officials had deliberately altered the interview marks of candidates in order to appoint people they preferred while denying the jobs for deserved candidates. The reports say that the Chennai Crime Branch had filed a charge sheet in March 2021 and the agency had also levelled serious allegations against Senthil Balaji, including corruption charges in the process of recruitment. The officials who were involved in the cheating were also booked by the Central Crime Branch. 

Based on the charge sheet, the ED had summoned Senthil Balaji to appear before it on August 11. However, he has now skipped the summon and sought one month time from appearing by citing the assembly session. Senthil Balaji was with the ADMK and he was expelled from the party by the then Chief J Jayalalithaa and after the latter's demise, Balaji had supported TTV Dhinakaran, and ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly polls, he joined the DMK and contested from his home turf Karur constituency against the ADMK candidate MR Vijayabaskar. Balaji had won the polls and Chief Minister MK Stalin had inducted him into the cabinet and awarded the post of Minister of Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise.