Senthil Balaji’s wife moves Supreme Court against Madras High Court order

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court's order allowing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji into custody for questioning in connection with the cash-for-jobs scam.

The special leave petition filed by Megala, wife of Balaji, challenged the validity of the Madras High Court's orders of July 14 and July 4, dismissing her habeas corpus petition as not maintainable.

A single judge bench had on July 14 concurred with a view of one of the judges of the division bench, expressed on July 4, allowing the ED to take him into custody.

In her plea, Megala sought a direction for stays on both the orders, contending that the ED is not the police and has got no right to seek custody. In Balaji's matter, the period of 15 days from the date of arrest is over and the ED cannot now seek his custody, the plea said. It also stated the entire arrest and remand in the case were illegal and contrary to law.

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In the instant case, the plea contended that the Madras High Court had failed to appreciate that Section 41A (prior notice) of CrPC was an important procedural safeguard against the illegal arrest of a person as it is a procedure prescribed in law in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution, required to be followed before the person can be deprived of his liberty.

In the case, the arrest has been effected in violation of Section 19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Sessions Judge while granting remand on July 14, 2023 did not consider this factor, the plea argued.

"ED officers are neither ‘police officers’, nor are they deemed to be an ‘officer in charge of a police station’. As a necessary result, they are not empowered to seek ‘police custody’. Therefore, after 24 hours from arrest has elapsed, the ED can only apply for judicial custody under Section 167CrPC and cannot seek police custody," her plea claimed.

The ED arrested the minister on June 14 in a money laundering case related to the cash-for-job scam during his tenure as Transport Minister between 2011 and 2016. The action against him came after the Supreme Court in its judgement in May allowed the CBI and the ED to quiz him.

Immediately after the arrest, the minister complained of chest pain and was admitted to a hospital where he underwent coronary artery bypass surgery.