NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case, to submit his latest medical reports for perusal of his appeal on medical grounds.
The development came while the bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing Balaji’s appeal challenging an order of the Madras HC which refused to grant him bail in October.
Dismissing his bail application, Justice G Jayachandran had said the court cannot grant bail on medical grounds given his present health conditions, saying he will influence witnesses if he gets the bail.
The SC was apprised by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, representing the minister, that his client has multiple health issues. The counsel also pointed out the possibility of a stroke if not getting proper treatment citing the MRI reports of Balaji.
On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the accused person was having old chronic problems. The bench observed this does not appear to be very serious and look like an old problem. Accordingly, Rohtagi was asked to furnish the medical reports in the next hearing while posting it for November 28.