Madras HC allows arrested minister Balaji to be shifted to private hospital

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday allowed arrested Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji to be shifted to a private hospital from a government multi-specialty hospital where he is in judicial custody.

The Minister and his family had moved the court to shift him to Kaveri hospital from the present Omandarur government hospital.

A division bench of Justices Nisha Banu and Bharat Chakravarthy also considered the medical report of the minister from the government multi-specialty hospital.

It, however, allowed the Enforcement Directorate to examine the minister using an expert medical board on his complaint about a heart ailment.

Balaji, who held the portfolios of Electricity, Excise, and Prohibition, was arrested early on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate. The arrest had created ripples in Tamil Nadu with the DMK leadership including Chief Minister M.K. Stalin strongly condemning the arrest and directly challenging the BJP government at the centre.

The division bench said that the case would again be heard on June 22.