The Madras High Court on Friday (August 8, 2025) granted conditional permission to former Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji’s brother R.V. Ashok Kumar, facing a job racket case registered by the State police and a consequent money laundering probe by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), to visit the United States for medical treatment.

Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan granted the permission to Mr. Ashok Kumar to visit Mayo Clinic in Arizona between August 30 and September 22 on multiple conditions, which included that he should deposit ₹5 lakh, besides submitting his unmarried daughter’s passport before a sessions court.

The Bench was convinced with the submissions of senior counsel R. John Sathyan that his client, suffering from severe cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease, was entitled to get better treatment at a hospital of his choice, especially when the right to travel abroad had been recognised as a fundamental right.

The orders were passed on a petition filed by the former Minister’s brother before the High Court, challenging the Chennai Principal Sessions Court’s July 9, 2025 refusal to grant him permission to travel to the United States, after not finding any justifiable reason to do so.

Principal Sessions Judge S. Karthikeyan had taken note of the submisisons made by ED Special Public Prosecutor Rajnish Pathiyil that the petitioner was the co-accused in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case, wherein the former Minister was the prime accused. The charge against them was that they had collected ₹67.74 crore from various individuals on the false promise of getting them jobs as drivers and conductors in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, when Mr. Senthilbalaji served as Transport Minister in former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet between 2011 and 2015.

The ED claimed that the money was laundered by layering the proceeds of the crimes through fictitious enterprises and by investing in real estate. The sleuths had found a substantial amount of cash deposits having been made in the bank account of the petitioner during the relevant period. They also accused the petitioner of operating a sham entity named Apex A Traders, besides having engaged in the transfer of a high-value property on Karur National Highway at artificially low prices, through a web of unacccounted cash transactions, thereby facilitiating further layering of the proceeds of the crime.

Stating that a building was also constructed on the property, Mr. Pathiyil said, the funds for the construction had originated from the petitioner, and they were of dubious origin. The ED also accused the petitioner of having evaded the summons during the investigation, leading to the issuance of a Look Out Circular.

‘Flight risk’

The SPP had told the sessions court that the petitioner was a flight risk and that he may abscond after flying to the United States. Even otherwise, the petitioner’s aim appeared to somehow delay the commencement of the trial in the money laundering probe against him by citing medical reasons, he added.

After recording his submissions, the Sessions Court had taken adverse note of the petitioner’s previous conduct in having evaded the summons issued by the ED and said that any delay in trial proceedings, due to the foreign travel, would adversely affect the other accused persons’ right to speedy trial.

“There is no proof for the claim that he will take treatment in the USA for about 15 days and will return immediately thereafter. Further, absolutely no material has been placed before this court to show that the treatment required is not at all available in India. In the absence of any medical emergency that the petitioner needs to get immediate treatment for in the USA, this court finds no justifiable reason for according permission to the petitioner to travel abroad,” the sessions court order read.