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The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the petitions of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala to challenge the July 14 order of the Madras High Court, under which it upheld his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
A panel consisting of Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachod and Justices P.S. Narasimha and Manoj Misra learned from the submissions of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared before the Minister and his wife, that the case would become futile if it was not heard urgently.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Anti-Money Laundering Investigation Agency, has disputed the briefs filed by Sibal for an expedited hearing, saying false facts have been listed and the Chief Justice has not yet referred the matter to a judicial body for further action.
“If the court wants to include it tomorrow, I have no problem,” said the legal officer.
The substitutes said: “We will include if it is for hearing.”
The minister and his wife filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the Supreme Court order under which he was upheld by the emergency manager in a money laundering case.
Besides upholding the minister’s arrest, his subsequent detention in judicial custody by the Sessions Court in a money laundering case arising from the alleged cash-for-jobs scam at the State Department of Transportation was deemed valid by the Supreme Court. Minister of Transport. He remains a Minister without Portfolio in the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, who was appointed by the Supreme Court as the third judge to hear the habeas corpus petition of Senthil Balaji’s wife, after a split judgment by the divisional panel, agreed with the conclusions reached by Justice D Bharata Chakravarthy. Judge Chakravarthy had upheld Balaji’s arrest. The third judge considered that the accused had no right to thwart the investigation.
Justice Karthikeyan directed the register to submit the matter to Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala for referral to the same department bench to set the date when the emergency department can take custody of Senthil Balaji, who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, and transfer him from the hospital.
Balaji was transferred to Buzal Central Jail in Chennai from a private hospital on Monday.
In his order, Judge Karthikeyan said, according to the complainant, he gave Rs 2.40 lakh (for a job in a state-run transport company). This was the specific offense of bribery for which the FIR was filed, after which the Executive Director recorded the Enforcement Status Information Report (ED version for FIR). Later, Balaji, the Minister of Transport in the former AIADMK government, is arrested by the ED
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