CHENNAI: Following the split verdict delivered by a two-judge bench of Madras High Court on the legality of the arrest and subsequent remand of minister V Senthil Balaji, Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala has assigned Justice CV Karthikeyan as the third judge to decide on the petition.
The habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji’s wife Megala is listed for hearing on Thursday at 2.15 pm. When a petition filed by ED in the Supreme Court was heard on Tuesday, the court directed the CJ to expeditiously assign the matter to a third judge.
On Tuesday, presiding judge Justice J Nisha Banu of the division bench allowed the habeas corpus petition and declared the remand order for judicial custody illegal. She also ruled the ED is not entrusted with powers to take custody of the minister as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, under which he was arrested, does not vest the agency the powers of a station house officer for taking police custody of the accused person.
However, co-judge Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy held that the petitioner failed to make out a strong case for proving the arrest illegal. Ruling that ED is empowered to take an accused into police custody for interrogation, he also allowed excluding the hospitalisation period in calculating the period for police custody.