Balaji, wife move SC against HC upholding arrest in PMLA case

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthilbalaji and his wife Megala have filed two separate petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the July 14 order of the Madras High Court by which it upheld his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.

Besides upholding the arrest of the minister, the high court had also held as valid his subsequent remand in judicial custody by a sessions court in the money laundering case arising out of the alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the state’s transport department when he was the transport minister. He continues to be a minister without portfolio in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. Senthilbalaji, in his petition, said, “The very arrest and the remand order were both illegal and contrary to law. As such the impugned judgements upholding the same are liable to set aside.”

Assailing the High Court order, the plea said the non-communication of reasons of arrest amounted to violation of his fundamental right. The Minister also raised several legal questions including whether the officers of the ED have a right to seek custody of the accused under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“Whether the officers of the ED, who are admittedly not police officers, have a right to seek custody of the accused under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the petition said. It also wanted to know whether the power to arrest and power to investigate mandatorily include the right to seek custody of an accused.

Simultaneously, his wife Megala also moved the top court against the High Court decision. Justice CV Karthikeyan, who was named as a third judge by the HC to hear the habeas corpus petition of minister’s wife, following a split verdict delivered by a division bench, concurred with the conclusions arrived at by Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.