Tamil Nadu withdraws 'general consent', makes permission mandatory for CBI to probe cases

CBI will not be able to register any fresh case against any government employee or private individual in Tamil Nadu without the consent from the state government.

Chennai: On a day when the Enforcement Directorate officials arrested Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji, the Tamil Nadu government has withdrawn the general consent given to the probe agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the cases in the state without prior permission from it.

A government order to this effect was issued Wednesday and the same was communicated to the media in an official statement citing that states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Mizoram, Punjab and Telangana have already withdrawn the general consent accorded to the CBI.

"Tamil Nadu Government withdraws general consent given to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The central agency, CBI should get permission from Tamil Nadu Government to investigate in the state. This has been done already in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Kerala, Mizoram, Punjab and Telangana," Tamil Nadu Home Department said in the communique.

According to Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the CBI is supposed to get permission from the respective State before investigating any case in the state. Tamil Nadu has become a tenth state to withdraw the general consent accorded for CBI to probe cases in the state. The other states include Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Meghalaya.

Read-CBI files 15 cases on derogatory posts on govt; 9 states withdrew general consent

The DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin stepped up his attack on the ruling BJP in the Centre over the arrest of his cabinet colleague V Senthil Balaji. Stalin asserted the minister will face the case legally, and so will the party. He charged the ED officials of "enacting a drama" in the name of enquiry and accused them of "physically and mentally troubling" Balaji.

"They had pressured him to the point of him suffering a chest pain," Stalin alleged in a statement, hours after the ED arrested Balaji in a money laundering probe following raids at his premises and hours-long questioning since Tuesday.

Read-Stalin blames BJP for arrest of Senthil Balaji; says ED torture led to chest pain