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The ED arrested the Minister on June 14. On June 15, though the high court denied the Minister interim bail but allowed him to be shifted to a private hospital in Chennai for treatment.
Justice CV Karthikeyan of the Madras High Court on Friday expressed his opinion on the split verdict delivered by a division bench in the habeas corpus petition moved by the wife of Minister V. Senthilbalaji against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a PMLA case.
The judge aligned with the views taken by Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy in the split verdict.
Following a split verdict by a bench of Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, the matter was placed before Justice Karthikeyan in accordance with Clause 36 of the Letters Patent.
Justice Karthikeyan had framed the following points of difference in the opinions of the two judges:
(i) Whether Enforcement Directorate has the power to seek custody of a person arrested?
(ii) Whether the Habeas Corpus Petition itself is maintainable after a judicial order of remand is passed by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
(iii) The Consequential issue as to whether ED would be entitled to seek exclusion of time for the period of hospitalization beyond the first 15 days would be automatically answered depending on the decision on the 1st issue above.
Justice Karthikeyan on Friday held that the ED had the right to get Balaji's custody. He further opined that once an arrest and remand are made legal, a habeas corpus plea would not lie, therefore, in the present case, though the habeas corpus plea may be maintainable, it was not entertainable.
Further, on the point of exclusion of Balaji's period of hospitalization from the period for custodial interrogation, Justice Karthikeyan held that it was permissible.
However, Justice Karthikeyan sent the habeas corpus petition back to the division bench for determining the period for which ED can take custody of Balaji.
Case against Senthilbalaji:
Allegedly, when Senthilbalaji, the present Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister, was serving as Transport Minister in Jayalalithaa’s Cabinet during 2011-15, a job racket took place where bribe was sought for jobs in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation. It is alleged that he had obtained money from third parties promising jobs in the Transport Department and thereafter cheated them.
The ED arrested the Minister on June 14 and he was remanded to judicial custody till June 28.
Meanwhile, after the Minister complained for chest pain, he was admitted to Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital at Omandurar Estate in Chennai for a medical checkup. At the government hospital, the Minister was advised CABG-Bypass surgery at the earliest.
On the same day, the Minister's wife moved the high court alleging that his arrest has been done without following the due procedure and sought his transfer to a private hospital for treatment.
On June 15, though the high court denied the Minister interim bail but allowed him to be shifted to a private hospital in Chennai for treatment.
Thereafter, a division bench delivered a split verdict in the plea, after which High Court Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala listed the matter before the bench of Justice CV Karthikeyan.
Case Title: Megala v. State
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