ED moves Supreme Court against Madras High Court order allowing shifting of TN Minister V Senthil Balaji to private hospital

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has moved the Supreme Court of India against a Madras High Court order allowing Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, arrested in a money laundering case, to be shifted to a private hospital for bypass surgery. .The matter was mentioned by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh for urgent listing.The bench said that the matter would be listed for hearing on Wednesday. .The ED's plea, moved through advocate MK Maroria, stated that the High Court erred in entertaining a habeas corpus petition filed by Balaji's wife after he was remanded to custody by way of a judicial order. "In light of the above well settled legal principle that the validity of arrest cannot be challenged in a habeas corpus petition, once the person arrested has been validly remanded to custody, the High Court has erred in entertaining the habeas corpus petition when Mr. V. Senthil Balaji has been duly remanded to custody by the Ld. Special Court," the ED contended.The agency also argued that the High Court erred in shifting Balaji to a private hospital without considering the ED's genuine apprehension that, since the accused was a minister, there was a likelihood of bias. Further, the ED claimed that immediately after the remand order was passed by the sessions court, Balaji feigned an illness and got himself admitted to a hospital. The agency further objected to the trial court's directions to the ED to interrogate Balaji in the hospital. "The Court has erred in imposing certain conditions which have virtually rendered the interrogation and investigation meaningless", read the plea. In light of this, the ED urged the Supreme Court to pass orders permitting ED custody after Balaji is discharged from hospital.The ED added that since Balaji was hospitalised by choice from the first day of his remand, the first fifteen days ought not to come in the way of effective investigation and interrogation. .Balaji, a minister in the cabinet of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led government in Tamil Nadu, was arrested by the ED in connection with a cash-for-job case.The charges against him date back to his tenure as the transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015.Soon after his arrest, Balaji complained of chest pain and was admitted to a government hospital, where he underwent a coronary angiogram. The City Civil and Sessions Court, Chennai remanded Balaji to judicial custody till June 28 after visiting Balaji at the hospital and ascertaining his health condition.The Sessions judge, however, permitted Balaji to continue his medical treatment at the government hospital.Meanwhile, his wife, S Megala, moved a habeas corpus petition before the Madras High Court against his arrest.The High Court, on June 15, permitted Balaji to be shifted to Kauvery Hospital, a private hospital in the city, for an emergency bypass surgery.Subsequently, on June 16, the Principal Judge at City Civil and Sessions Court, Chennai, S Alli allowed the plea by ED seeking custodial interrogation of the minister but directed that the interrogation should be at the hospital.