Chief Justice of Madras High Court SV Gangapurwala has named Justice CV Karthikeyan as the third judge to hear the habeas corpus petition filed by arrested minister Senthil Balaji's wife, S Malliga. The necessity of a third judge occurred after Justice Nisha Banu and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy gave a split verdict on Tuesday in the case. While Justice Nisha Banu ordered the release of Senthil Balaji, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy differed.
Justice Karthikeyan will now hear the case afresh and his decision will tilt the verdict by a majority of 2:1. Justice J Nisha Banu had held that the Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) was maintainable and declared that the minister's detention was illegal. The judge immediately ordered the release of the minister forthwith.
However, her colleague in the same bench, Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy disagreed with the conclusions of Justice Nisha Banu and the reasons given by her in passing them. This led to a split verdict and the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court has now ordered Justice Karthikeyan to hear the case afresh and his decision will be final.
Senthil Balaji was arrested by the officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED), on June 14, after raids that lasted nearly 18 hours in his house. The arrest was made in a money-laundering case linked to a transport corporation job scam in the period 2011-2015, while Senthil Balaji was the Transport Minister in former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government. Soon after the arrest, Senthil Balaji complained of severe chest pain and was taken to the Omandurar hospital. He was later shifted to Kauvery hospital, where he underwent a bypass surgery and is under observation currently.