New Delhi: The Madras High Court Friday upheld the right of Enforcement Directorate (ED) to seek custody of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji in alleged cash-for-jobs scam.
The court stated that the Habeous Corpus filed by Balaji’s wife Megala was not maintainable in the case. Justice CV Karthikeyan was the third judge this case was referred to, following a split decision by the earlier bench.
Justice Banu from the previous bench had opined that the ED is not entrusted with the power to get police custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had argued that the officials from the central investigation agency are not the police officers.
The current bench accepted Sibal’s argument but noted that the Sessions court remanded Balaji to judicial custody under Section 167 CrPC. Following which, the nomenclature of the detainee changes to the accused.
Meanwhile, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out at Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to say that ED can exercise police powers.
