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Senthil Balaji named officials who assaulted him, says TN SHRC member; ED denies
The agency had said in its application before a court in Chennai on Wednesday that Senthil was arrested under prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) on June 14 at 1:39 am
Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission (TNSHRC) member V Kannadasan on Thursday visited arrested state minister Senthil Balaji in a hospital and said the latter claimed that he was assaulted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to which the agency denied.
The commission’s member V Kannadasan met the minister, who was arrested on charges of money laundering, in the Omandurar government medical hospital in Chennai on Thursday.
The minister was admitted to the hospital after 2:30am after 18 hours of questioning.
“I couldn’t see the wounds because he was lying down, and he couldn’t speak much because of his chest pain. But I have investigated him, and he has given me the names of officials who he said assaulted him,” said Kannadasan after his meeting with the arrested minister.
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“The commission will make a decision on this tomorrow”, Kannadasan added.
ED did not comment on the allegations levelled by Balaji that he was tortured by the investigating officers.
An officer, however, denied the allegations saying, “no such thing happened”.
“ED follows rules and regulations while taking a person in custody. All these allegations are baseless”, he said.
The agency had said in its application before a court in Chennai on Wednesday that Senthil was arrested under prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) on June 14 at 1:39 am.
“He has been informed about the reasons for his arrest, but he has refused to acknowledge and refused to sign. Therefore, the arrest order/memo was executed in the presence of two independent witnesses.
While arresting the person accused, the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of DK Basu were fully complied without any omission and steps are being taken to comply the ingredients of the Article 22(3) of Constitution of India,” ED said in its application.
“It is also submitted that during the enforcement custody, the accused will be treated politely and humanly, he will be provided with proper food and adequate medical facilities. The accused will not be ill-treated in the enforcement custody,” the agency had said.
ED has said it has evidence to show that Balaji is guilty in a money laundering case when he was transport minister in the previous AIADMK regime from 2011-2015 where he conspired to take money from candidates in exchange for jobs in his department but they neither got jobs nor a refund.
Balaji underwent a coronary angiogram on Wednesday at the Omandurar government hospital in Chennai and a bypass surgery was advised.
Balaji’s senior counsel ER Elango has moved a petition in court seeking to shift him to a private hospital.
He is currently undergoing treatment in the government hospital.
“He does look like he requires emergency medical intervention,” added the commission’s member.
Tamil Nadu’s opposition AIADMK has objected to the meeting saying that advocate Kannadasan favours the ruling DMK.
Reacting on the incident, AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar said, “If he has done nothing wrong, let him face the case legally instead of doing such drama.”
