Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji underwent a beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery a week after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 14 arrested him over money laundering charges after 18-hour questioning.
In a bulletin, Chennai’s Kauvery Hospital said Balaji is stable and being monitored in the postoperative cardiothoracic intensive care unit. “Four bypass grafts were placed and coronary revascularization was established.”
A Chennai court granted ED Balaji’s custody starting June 16 and allowed it to interrogate him only within hospital premises, prompting the federal agency to move Supreme Court. ED accused Balaji of feigning illness immediately after his arrest and opposed his shifting to the private hospital.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the agency to argue its case first before the Madras high court against entertaining a habeas corpus petition over Balaji’s arrest and exclusion of the period of his hospitalisation from the 15-day ED remand period. The high court is due to hear the matter on Thursday.
Balaji was admitted to a government hospital after his arrest with doctors recommending the bypass surgery at the earliest after diagnosing three blockages in his heart. On June 15, Balaji was shifted to the Kauvery Hospital following a high court order.
Chief minister MK Stalin accused ED of torturing Balaji, which led to his hospitalisation, after the minister’s arrest last week. He rushed to see Balaji and blamed the torture for the minister’s chest pain. He said Balaji was tortured even after the minister said he would cooperate with the investigation.
Stalin said the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will not be intimidated by threats from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and added that people will teach them a lesson in the 2024 national elections. He accused ED of acting inhumanly and said Balaji will fight legally.
Balaji was arrested hours after Stalin slammed the BJP’s “backdoor tactics” against its political opponents as ED launched raids at premises linked to Balaji. Stalin called ED’s raid at the secretariat office of Balaji a direct assault on the federal principle.
The allegations against Balaji date back to 2011-15 when he was the transport minister in the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government. Crores of rupees were allegedly taken from candidates in return for promised jobs. Many candidates did not get jobs despite allegedly paying bribes.
Balaji quit AIADMK after former chief minister J Jayalalitha’s death in 2016. He joined the ruling DMK in December 2018.
In May this year, the Supreme Court allowed the ED to continue its money laundering investigations in the alleged scam overruling a Madras high court order in 2022.
DMK’s allies including the Congress rallied behind Tamil Nadu’s ruling party following Balaji’s arrest while BJP and AIADMK called Balaji’s hospitalisation a drama and demanded his sacking.
DMK leader R S Bharathi wondered whether ED was targeting Balaji since there was a power cut for 15 minutes when Union home minister Amit Shah was at the Chennai airport on June 10.
