Chennai: After seven months the then DMK government refused to grant prosecution sanction Enforcement Directorate (ED) In ​​the cash-for-jobs scam case against its minister V Senthil Balaji and others, the federal agency has again written to Chief Secretary M Sai Kumar seeking state approval to prosecute the former minister.The three-page letter dated May 15 said his previous prosecution sanction request, addressed to the then Governor on May 14, 2025, was returned on February 23 this year, as per the instructions of the state government. The then Chief Secretary informed the Governor in October 2025 that the state government was the competent authority to grant sanction to prosecute a public servant and the ED should have written directly to the Chief Secretary instead of approaching the Governor.Now, the ED has enclosed all the relevant evidence in the latest letter along with a confidential note on the investigation and a copy of the prosecution complaint in a pen drive. The communication has been duly received and acknowledged by the Office of the Chief Secretary.The alleged cash for jobs case in the transport department took place between 2011 and 2016 when Senthil Balaji was the transport minister. The ED registered a case against Senthil Balaji, his brother RV Ashok Kumar, personal assistants B Shanmugam and M Karthikeyan on money laundering charges and accused them of accepting illegal bribes from candidates seeking employment in the transport department. In this case, Senthil Balaji was arrested by ED in June 2023.While Senthil Balaji was released on bail by the Supreme Court in September 2024, the ED had filed a prosecution complaint against him before the special court for PMLA cases in the city. However, the trial in the case is yet to begin, pending clearance from the state government as he was a minister at the time of the crime.