TN Minister Senthil Balaji shifted to Chennai's Puzhal Central Prison from private hospital

Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji was on Monday shifted to the Puzhal Central Prison near here after he was discharged from a private hospital where he underwent a by-pass heart surgery last month. 

This is the first time Balaji will be spending his judicial custody in prison as he was admitted to the Government Omandurar Hospital and later shifted to a private facility after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 14 in connection with a money laundering case. 

Balaji was discharged on Monday evening and was immediately shifted to the Puzhal Central prison, according to rules. “He will be accorded ‘A’ class facility in the prison,” a senior jail official said, adding that he is entitled to the facility in his capacity as a minister (without portfolio).

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Balaji’s judicial custody was extended till July 26 last week and he will be produced before a local court on the said date. His discharge from the hospital comes three days after a third judge of the Madras High Court dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by his wife S Megala questioning the ED’s powers to take him in police custody. 

The third judge was appointed after a division bench delivered a split verdict.  

Balaji, who is now a minister without portfolio in Chief Minister M K Stalin’s cabinet, was arrested by the ED on June 14 in a cash-for-job scam during his 2011-2015 tenure as Transport Minister in the then AIADMK cabinet led by J Jayalalithaa.  

Balaji’s arrest by the ED also led to a major political controversy in Tamil Nadu with Governor R N Ravi “dismissing” him from the Council of Ministers, only to put on abeyance his decision within a few hours. The Governor’s action came after Stalin refused to drop Balaji from the cabinet, arguing mere registration of a case doesn’t make anyone guilty. 

Stalin, while “disregarding” the communication from the Governor, said only the CM has the right to induct or dismiss a minister.