The High Court of Madras on Tuesday passed a split verdict 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, can be released by the High Court on the basis of a Habeas Corpus petition filed by his wife, S. Megala.
The Bench of Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy said the matter will now be placed before Chief Justice Sanjay Vijaykumar Gangapurwala for further orders.
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.
On June 28, a local court in Chennai had extended the judicial custody of Balaji by two weeks. The order was passed by Principal Sessions Judge S. Alli at Chennai.
The Minister, who was currently undergoing treatment at Kauvery Hospital after bypass surgery, was produced before the court via video-conferencing. The Principal Sessions Judge asked Balaji about his health.
The Minister responded that he was still suffering from pain.Earlier, the court had remanded Balaji to judicial custody for 14 days through an order dated June 14.On June 15, the Sessions court permitted ED to interrogate Balaji at the hospital.
However, the national agency was unable to question the accused in the hospital, owing to the restrictions imposed by Kauvery hospital due to Balaji’s medical conditions. On June 24, ED submitted a memo before the court seeking withdrawal of its request.
The national agency had registered a case against Balaji under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 for alleged misuse of his office for carrying out a job racket in the state transport undertaking during his tenure as the Transport Minister during the government of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazkhagam (AIADMK) from 2011-2015.
As per ED, hefty amounts were paid to the candidates, who were then selected for jobs. ED recovered unaccounted cash deposits worth Rs 1.60 crore from the bank account of Balaji and his wife S. Megala.
Earlier, the Madras High Court had directed the police to commence a fresh investigation in the matter. The order was set aside by the Supreme Court on June 16, which allowed ED to resume its probe.