The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) five-day custody of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji until August 12 for questioning over money laundering charges he faces.
A bench of justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh dismissed Balaji’s petition challenging Madras high court’s July 4 and 14 orders dismissing his plea challenging ED’s power to take his custody. “Under Section 167(2) [of Code of Criminal Procedure or CrPC], such custody will include police custody or custody with any other investigating agency.”
Balaji, who was arrested on June 14, argued ED is not police under CrPC’s Section 167(2) and that a magistrate can grant custody only to police.
ED obtained Balaji’s 15-day police custody from a magistrate court after his arrest but could not get it as he was hospitalised for bypass surgery. It told the top court that the 60-day period for completing the investigation will expire on August 14. ED cited a fresh order and said Balaji’s police custody will expire on August 12.
Balaji’s wife moved a separate appeal challenging the high court’s dismissal of her habeas corpus petition, which is filed in cases of illegal detention, over her husband’s arrest. The top court upheld the dismissal saying a court granted Balaji’s remand to ED.
The court said the order of remand could have been challenged before a higher court in the event there was any non-compliance with Section 167(2) or Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which relates to ED’s power to arrest.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Balaji and his wife, argued the ED’s 15-day custody ended on June 14 and that the agency could have interrogated him in the hospital. They argued ED cannot get custody for a second time under Section 167 of CrPC.
The lawyers cited the 1992 Supreme Court judgment in the Central Bureau of Investigation versus Ankur Kulkarni case in which custody beyond the 15-day period was refused after the accused was hospitalised.
The bench said the curtailment of the 15-day custody period due to any reason or act of God will not restrain the investigating agency from seeking further custody. “Section 167(2) CrPC is a bridge between liberty and investigation.” It said a larger bench needs to reconsider the 1992 judgment.
The allegations against Balaji related to bribery for jobs date back to 2011-15 when he was the transport minister in the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government.
On May 16, the Supreme Court allowed ED to proceed with the investigation against Balaji. In his petition, Balaji claimed that PMLA is a regulatory law that does not empower officers to keep a person in custody.
ED rejected his arguments as fallacious pointing out that the Supreme Court in the Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary case allowed the agency to arrest and prosecute money laundering offences. It pointed out ED has obtained custody beyond 15 days in PMLA cases.
