Madras High Court has agreed for an urgent hearing on a habeas corpus petition, which was filed by Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji’s wife. The Minister was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to a money laundering case. In her petition, Senthilbalaji’s wife accused the ED of having arrested her husband without following the required procedures. The petition was filed by DMK Rajya Sabha MP, N.R. Elango, who is also the Minister’s counsel. Elango made a mention before a Bench, arguing that the ED had not followed due procedures while arresting the Minister and that his family members were not informed on what grounds he was arrested.
The two-member Bench comprising Justices M. Sundar and R. Sakthivel will hear the petition. They accepted Elango’s plea, stating that the arrest intimation was not furnished and the rules issued by the Supreme Court referring to the authority of the investigating officers to resort to arrest had not been followed in the Minister’s case. In response to the petition, the Judges decided to take up the case after it is numbered by the Registry and requested Senior Counsel to get back to the court after getting the petition numbered.
However, later R. Sakthivel recused himself from the case, and the Habeas corpus plea will now be listed before another Bench later today for hearing.
