Tamil Nadu's Minister without portfolio Senthil Balaji, who is under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has got discharged from Kauvery Hospital, Chennai. But, he was immediately taken to Puzhal central prison in the city as he remains under the ED's custody in connection to a money laundering case that was lodged against him years ago.

He was shifted from the hospital to the prison in a high police escort as the state is closely watching the developments that have become a political tussle between the central-ruling BJP and the state-ruling DMK. Senthil Balaji was serving as the Tamil Nadu Minister of Electricity, Prohibition & Excise and on June 14, he was arrested by the ED, after hours of raids, from his residence in connection to a money laundering case that was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

When ED took Senthil Balaji into custody, he had complained of chest pain after which he was immediately rushed to the Government Omandurar hospital in Chennai for treatments. The late-night visuals had shown Senthil Balaji lying in a car and was seen breaking down with tears. As the DMK had alleged that the ED officials had tortured him to an extent that he suffered a chest pain, the state had witnessed a legal battle between Senthil Balaji's wife, who filed a habeas corpus petition, alleging that his husband was illegally arrested, and ED in the Madras High Court. 

The hospital had earlier said that Senthil Balaji must go bypass surgery and after a court order, he was then shifted to Kauvery hospital, where he underwent major bypass surgery that lasted for five hours. While he was doing good towards recovery, all he got were pieces of bad news as he wasn't given any respite from the court. While ED couldn't able to take him under its direct custody owing to his hospitalization, the central agency had strongly limited Senthil Balaji's prospect to get a bail. 

Recently, a two-judge bench of the Madras High Court gave a split verdict after which the hearing was shifted to a new bench headed by Justice Karthikeyan. In his verdict, Justice Karthikeyan observed that there is no prima facie evidence that Senthil Balaji's arrest was illegal and noted that the ED has complete right to take Senthil Balaji under its custody. The verdict came as a further setback for Senthil Balaji and it was said that Senthil Balaji would be taken under custody once he got discharged from the hospital. 

As Senthil Balaji got discharged from the hospital on Monday - July 17, he was immediately taken to the Puzhal central prison in Chennai to lodge him under custody. It has been reported that his health will be continously monitored by the prison doctors and the ED will begin to interrogate him. The case was filed against Senthil Balaji in connection to a job scam that he allegedly committed while he was serving as the Transport Minister in the ADMK regime between 2013 and 2015 where he is accused of receiving money with the promise of awarding jobs in the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation. 

On the other hand, while Senthil Balaji is taken to the prison, his counsel has been planning to challenge the Madras High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Senthil Balaji's arrest had also sparked a war of words between the DMK government and Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. Days after ED had arrested Senthil Balaji, Chief Minister MK Stalin gave his portfolios of Electricity and Prohibition & Excise to ministers Thangam Thennarasu and Muthusamy respectively.

While Senthil Balaji was made the Minister without portfolio, Governor RN Ravi independently announced that he is dismissing Senthil Balaji from the cabinet by claiming that his ministerial post would hamper the ED investigations. However, his decision to dismiss him from the cabinet had a strong backfire from across the state with several political parties slamming RN Ravi for interfering in the Chief Minister's role and that the latter holds the authority to remove a minister. In the wake of a severe outcry, RN Ravi backtracked from his decision and said that he is taking back his announcement of dismissing Senthil Balaji.