Chennai/IBNS/UNI: A couple of hours after the court gave the nod, Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case and is now in judicial remand, was taken into custody for questioning.

After the Principal Sessions Court gave the nod on the basis of the Supreme Court order, the ED officials produced copies of the PSJ order to the Puzhal prison authorities and took him into custody for questioning from tomorrow till Aug 12.

The ED officials last Thursday conducted fresh raids at the premises linked to arrested Tamil Nadu Minister V. Senthilbalaji in connection with a money laundering case.

According to reports, the raids were held in at least five places in Karur and Coimbatore with the help of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

The searches were held at the minister's personal assistant V.Sankar's house and other places in Karur and also at the residence of liquor selling retailer-TASMAC's supervisor Muthubalan in Coimbatore.

The fresh searches were seen as a follow-up action to the earlier raids conducted by the ED and the income-tax officials which led to the arrest of Senthilbalaji on June 14 in the cash-for-jobs scam that took place when he was the electricity minister during the previous AIADMK regime.

Senthilbalaji, who underwent a bypass surgery a week after his arrest at a private hospital, is now under judicial custody.