Senthil Balaji case: SC upholds arrest by ED, allows five-day custody
The court said the writ of habeas corpus was not maintainable against the arrest and the order of remand cannot be challenged in a habeas corpus petition. Senthil Balaji being taken to Sastry Bhavan. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the petitions filed by Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji and his wife Megala against a Madras High Court order upholding his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case. The top court also allowed ED to take Balaji into custody for five days till August 12. A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh also directed the registry to place before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders to decide the larger issue of whether the 15-day custody period should be only within the first 15 days of remand or spanning the entire period of investigation, 60 or 90 days as the case may be, as a whole. The court said the writ of habeas corpus was not maintainable against the arrest and the order of remand c...