High Drama As DMK Minister Taken to Hospital After Arrest, Needs Surgery
Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji, who had a heart angiogram hours after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, has been remanded in judicial custody till June 28. He has been advised a CABG-bypass surgery at the earliest.
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The minister was arrested this morning after hours of questioning in connection with a money laundering case.
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The case is linked to alleged siphoning of money during the AIADMK government led by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Mr Balaji, then in the AIADMK, was the transport minister in the Jayalalithaa government
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He had been taken to the hospital for a medical check-up by the ED after he complained of chest pain. Doctors at the Chennai hospital said the angiogram revealed a triple vessel disease.
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Mr Balaji had broken down on the way to the hospital. Visuals of him weeping in the ambulance and while being wheeled into the hospital, were widely circulated.
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“He is in the ICU. He was unconscious and did not respond when he called him by his name. There is a swelling near his ear, doctors say there is variation in his ECG (electrocardiogram)… these are symptoms of torture,” DMK leader PK Sekar Babu said.
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Mr Balaji’s wife has filed a petition in the Madras High Court, alleging he was arrested without any notice or summons. The court has agreed to an urgent hearing.
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The ruling DMK has alleged the minister’s arrest is a BJP plot. “We would face it legally. The DMK will not be cowed down by the BJP’s intimidation,” said Tamil Nadu Sports Minister and DMK Youth Wing chief Udhayanidhi Stalin.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who visited Mr Balaji at the hospital, slammed the BJP-led central government. Accusing the party of “politics of intimidation”, he said the raids on Mr Balaji were a “violation of (the country’s) federal structure”.
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On Tuesday, the ED raided Mr Balaji’s home and office at the Tamil Nadu Secretariat and the premises of his brother and a close aide in Karur district.
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The Income Tax authorities had searched the properties of Mr Balaji’s associates after the Supreme Court allowed the Enforcement Directorate to continue its investigation into cash-for-jobs allegations against him.
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