The bench headed by Justice R Sakthivel of Madras High Court in the case recused from hearing the Habeas Corpus plea moved by the family of Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, ED.
The bench comprising of Justice M Sundar and Justice R Sakthivel was hearing the matter mentioned by the Senior Counsel, NR Elango. Thus, since the files had not been numbered then, the bench in the case asked the counsel to again mention the matter in the afternoon.
The counsels in the afternoon were also informed by the Justice Sakthivel that he was recusing from the case.
Earlier, it has been argued by the Elango that the arrest was being made without following due guidelines and without giving proper arrest intimation to the Balaji’s family.
In the present case, Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, ED after an 18-hour long extensive search and interrogation on Tuesday at his official residence and his official chamber at the State Secretariat and his brother’s residence. Following the search, the Enforcement Directorate, ED arrested Balaji on Wednesday in the early hours.
However, the searches in the case were conducted in connection with a cash-for-job Scam which allegedly occurred during Balaji’s tenure as the Transportation Minister under the AIADMK regime between the year 2011 to 2016.
The High Court in its order in November last year stated for the fresh inquiry into the scam observing that there were irregularities. Thus, the High Court also dismissed a discharge petition by the Minister noting that there was enough material for framing of charges and that the case impacts the society.
The Supreme Court in the case observed and has set aside the High Court order and also set aside a direction of the High Court staying the ED proceedings and the Supreme Court gave a nod to the agency in order to go ahead with the investigation by including the offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Further, the court stated that the new bench is yet to be constituted to hear the matter, Chennai Principal District and Sessions Judge S Alli, before whom a remand application was moved by the Enforcement Directorate, ED and has decided to personally visit the Omandurar Government Hospital for taking the decision about his remand.