Chennai, Jul 4 (IANS): The Madras High Court on Tuesday delivered a split verdict on the Habeas corpus petition filed by the wife of arrested Tamil Nadu minister, Senthil Balaji.

While Justice J. Nisha Banu termed the arrest of the minister illegal and ordered him to be set free with immediate effect, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy deferred with the decision of Justice Nisha Banu.

The decision will now be taken by a third judge posted by the Chief Justice, S.V. Gangapurwala.

The wife of Senthil Balaji, had filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the Madras High Court questioning the arrest of her husband.

In the petition she had contended that the ED had failed to follow the procedures at the time of arrest.

S. Megala, the wife of the arrested minister, prayed before the court that the arrest must be declared illegal and her husband be set free.

The ED had in its response petition argued that the arrest of Senthil Balaji was perfectly legal and that he be handed over to the department for further questioning. The two judges, Justice J. Nisha Banu and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy, had in a sitting on June 15 passed interim orders and transferred the minister from a government hospital where he was under the custody of ED officials to a private hospital.

Doctors had preferred an urgent coronary bypass surgery to the beleaguered minister after an angioplasty detected three blocks in his coronary artillery. The minister was operated upon and is presently in the same hospital where he underwent surgery procedures.