Tamil Nadu Minister without portfolio, Senthil Balaji, who is lodged in Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai has moved the Madras High Court seeking bail purely on the basis of his medical condition. Justice G Jayachandran, after hearing the petition, has asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file a counter affidavit to his bail plea before October 16. Senthil Balaji was arrested by the ED on June 14 in a case related to the job-for-cash scam while he was serving as a minister during the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime.
Senthil Balaji in his petition before the Madras High Court stated that the Supreme Court itself had released several prisoners on bail solely on humanitarian and medical grounds. In the plea, Balaji has said that he has a right to be treated in a hospital of his choice without being admitted and confined to the prison hospital. He has also mentioned that he had suffered from pain in his heart immediately after he was arrested and on investigation at the government hospital, it was found that he had three blockages in the coronary artery.
In his plea, the minister said that he underwent a bypass surgery at Kauvery Hospital and was later shifted to the Puzhal prison on June 17 and interrogated in custody by the ED for six days in August. He said that despite being treated in the prison hospital, his recovery was slow and that he was still suffering from chest discomfort, pain, severe numbness and pain in his left leg.
The minister also stated that he suffered uneasiness on October 8 and the prison authorities took him to the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, where the doctors diagnosed him with lacunar stroke symptoms and dyslipidemia. The minister has said in his appeal that just because treatment is given in the prison hospital does not mean the prisoner is not entitled to get better treatment at a hospital of choice.