Wanted to arrest Senthil Balaji from the beginning as he refused to co-operate with probe: ED to Madras High Court

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday told the Madras High Court that there was no illegality in the arrest of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji on charges of corruption in the 'cash for jobs' scam case..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for ED, told a Bench of Justices Nisha Banu and D Bharatha Chakravarthy that the central agency knew from the time that its probe into the case began that Balaji will have to be arrested as he was refusing to co-operate..Therefore, there was no question of serving him any prior notice under Article 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Mehta argued."My consistent stand, right from the beginning, is that the Minister is not cooperating with the investigation and that he is not responding to summons and not answering questions. Now, if a police officer does not want to arrest, then he has to issue notice under Section 41 of CrPC. But in this case, from the beginning, we wanted to arrest him and it is our case that he needs to be arrested for good reasons," he said.He was responding to the earlier submissions made by counsel for Balaji's wife S Megala and Senior Advocate NR Elango that the Minister's arrest and subsequent remand were illegal as he had not been served a notice under Section 41A CrPC and that he had not been informed of the grounds of his arrest..SG Mehta, however, cited Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, saying it allowed the authorities to arrest persons if there was reason to believe that they were guilty of an offence under the Act. Under such provision, the grounds of the arrest are to be informed as soon as possible and not immediately, he said.Mehta further said that Balaji was informed of the grounds by the ED within 24 hours of his arrest and that he was also informed of the same by the sessions court at the time of his remand, within 24 hours of his arrest. Mehta also told the Court that the relief sought in the plea was not maintainable as the petitioner had not challenged the remand order through which the sessions court had permitted the ED to interrogate Balaji, and had merely advanced arguments to "show as if the remand order had been challenged.""He is not in my (ED's) custody. He is in judicial custody through a legal order. So, how can this Court say he is in illegal custody and ask me to produce him?" Mehta said..Appearing for Balaji, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the Court that the ED's arguments on the challenge to the remand order were erroneous as when the petition was filed, the lower court was yet to permit Balaji's custodial interrogation."The High Court in its June 15 interim order had made it clear that the Minister will continue to be in judicial custody despite being transferred to hospital. Yet, the ED went to sessions court the very next day and sought police custody," Rohatgi said..He cited the judgment in Gautam Navlakha's case, in which the Supreme Court had held that if a remand order was illegal or had been passed without application of mind, a habeas corpus petition was acceptable for seeking relief."It is my case that my remand order is illegal and also mechanical," Rohatgi said.He also argued that the ED's request for excluding the period that Balaji has spent in hospitals following his arrest be excluded from the period of his custody, was not backed by any legal provisions.Rohatgi urged the Court to grant Balaji bail if it found any merit in his arguments..All parties to the case concluded their arguments and the Bench directed them to submit their written submissions by Wednesday..Balaji was arrested after undergoing questioning by the ED in a money laundering case. The charges are from the time of his tenure as the transport minister during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government from 2011 to 2015.The action came following the Supreme Court's ruling on May 16.The top court had overturned a decision of the Madras High Court which had instructed the State police to carry out a new investigation into the cash-for-jobs scam case. Additionally, the apex court had granted permission to the ED to continue its probe.