The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay a Madras High Court order allowing arrested Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji to be shifted to a private hospital, Bar and Bench reported.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader was arrested in the early hours of June 14 in an alleged money-laundering case. However, soon afterwards, he complained of chest pain and was admitted to a government hospital in Chennai, where doctors recommended a bypass surgery at the earliest.

On June 15, the Madras High Court allowed Balaji to be shifted to a private hospital, after which he was moved to the city’s Kauvery Hospital. However, the Enforcement Directorate on Monday moved the Supreme Court, claiming that the minister was feigning illness after his arrest.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay the order allowing Balaji to be shifted to a private hospital. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh said that the High Court was yet to decide on whether the agency’s petition was maintainable. It said that the bench would wait for the High Court to pass an order on the matter.

The Kauvery Hospital on Wednesday said that Balaji underwent a bypass surgery and was hemodynamically stable, or that his blood pressure and heart rate were stable. “Four bypass grafts were placed and coronary revascularisation was established,” said Aravindan Selvaraj, Executive Director at the Kauvery Group of Hospitals, according to PTI.

Selvaraj said that a multidisciplinary team of doctors and nurses was monitoring Balaji in a postoperative intensive care unit.

The development came after the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission directed the Enforcement Directorate to file a report based on a complaint by the minister’s wife S Megala that his human rights were violated during his arrest. The commission said that if the agency does not reply within six weeks, it will take action as it deems fit, the Hindustan Times reported.

The case

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Balaji conspired with transport corporation officials to appoint candidates recommended by his aides. The agency claimed that crores of rupees were taken as bribes from candidates in exchange for jobs.

The alleged irregularities took place between 2014 and 2015, when Balaji was the state transport minister. He was then a leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in December 2018.

Balaji held the portfolios of electricity and prohibition and excise when he was arrested earlier this month. After his arrest, the state government reallocated his portfolios to his Cabinet colleagues Thangam Thennarasu and S Muthusamy.

Balaji is now a minister without portfolio.