SC refuses to consider Senthilbalaji’s plea seeking bail on health grounds

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider the bail plea of DMK minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

Balaji was demanding bail on health grounds. The top court was hearing an appeal against an order of the Madras High Court which had rejected his bail plea on October 19, saying he was likely to influence witnesses if granted bail.

The apex court bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and SC Sharma, after considering the health reports, said there was nothing serious in his health condition and granted liberty to Balaji to approach the trial court for seeking regular bail.

“Any observation made in the interim order against the petitioner on merits will not come in the way of the petitioner filing a regular bail application,” the bench said.

As the bench expressed reluctance to consider the matter, the petition was withdrawn and the case was dismissed as withdrawn.

The top court had earlier directed Balaji to place his medical report on record.

While rejecting the bail plea, the High Court had said that Balaji’s health report did not suggest that he had any medical condition which could be taken care of only if he was released on bail.

Balaji was arrested by the ED on June 14 in a money laundering case related to the cash-for-jobs scam when he was the transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime.