In a recent development, the Madras High Court has closed proceedings in the Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) filed by S Megala, wife of Tamil Nadu minister, V Senthil Balaji. The petition challenged Balaji’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to cash for jobs.
The bench, comprising Justices Nisha Banu and D Bharatha Chakravarthy, decided to close the proceedings, noting that the Supreme Court is already seized of the matter, with both parties having filed appeals. Consequently, the High Court bench refrained from passing any further orders in the case, including on the limited scope of calculating the date from which Senthil Balaji’s custody period would commence.
The question of when Balaji’s custody period would begin had arisen since he was admitted to a government hospital by the ED just hours after his arrest. The High Court has now left it to the Supreme Court to pass any further directions on this aspect.
Justice Banu clarified that she stood by her earlier order, in which she had deemed Senthil Balaji’s arrest to be illegal and directed that the minister be set free. However, Justice Chakravarthy had disagreed with her, leading to a split verdict. Justice Banu stated,
“There is no question of hearing anything. I have already said that he (Senthil Balaji) should be released. So how can I pass any orders in the date or period of custody? All I want to say is that I stand by my order. Now both parties have approached the SC. I do not have anything further to say in the matter. Why should we keep it pending?”
On July 4 this year, the bench of Justices Banu and Bharatha Chakravarthy had delivered a split verdict on Megala’s HCP. Justice Banu had held that the ED had no power to seek police custody of an accused arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and ruled that Senthil Balaji must be released. However, Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy held that the ED was entitled to police custody of the accused and that the minister’s arrest was legal and not in breach of any legal safeguards.
The matter was then referred to the third judge, Justice CV Karthikeyan, who concurred with the opinion of Justice Chakravarthy and ruled that there had been no illegality in Senthil Balaji’s arrest and that the ED was entitled to seek the minister’s custody. This led to the appeal before the top court.
With the Madras High Court’s decision to close the matter, all eyes are now on the Supreme Court for further directions in this high-profile case.