The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Chief Justice of Madras High Court to assign the case to a three-Judge Bench on whether Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the cash-for-job case, could be released on the basis of a Habeas Corpus petition filed by his wife, S. Megala.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta further listed the petitions filed before it for hearing on July 24.
Appearing for the national agency, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta apprised the Apex Court that the Madras High Court had delivered a split verdict on the petition this morning.
The SG said that his difficulty was that everyday, there would be tampering of evidence. He assured the court that there was a neat question of law and that no facts had been disputed. He said the only question was if a habeas corpus lies.
Noting that the case was related to an influential person, the SG said this could go on for months and the damage would be irreversible.
Earlier in the day, the Bench of Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy of Madras High Court had delivered a split verdict on the matter.
While Justice Banu rejected the ED’s plea seeking Balaji’s police custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Justice Chakravarthy held that the Habeas Corpus petition was not maintainable.
Ruling that the Habeas Corpus petition was maintainable, Justice Bhanu contended that ED was not entrusted with the powers to seek police custody under PMLA. She further dismissed the ED’s application seeking to exclude the period of treatment undergone by Balaji while calculating the period for custodial interrogation.
Justice Chakravarthy ruled that the Habeas Corpus plea was not maintainable in this case since it did not show that the arrest and detention of Balaji was illegal. The High Court judge further noted that in the present case, the petitioner had not made out a case to hold that the remand was illegal and thus, the HCP was not maintainable.
He further pointed out that since Balaji had been arrested, he has not been in the ED’s custody for even a day as he has been undergoing treatment from the day of the arrest.
The Judge directed that the period of treatment undergone by Balaji, starting from June 14 and till he gets discharged from Kauvery Hospital, should be excluded while calculating the period for custodial interrogation.
The High Court said the matter will now be placed before Chief Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala for further orders.