Chennai, Jul 5 (IANS): Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Justice S.V. Gangapurwala has named Justice C.V. Karthikeyan as the third judge to hear the habeas corpus case filed by arrested minister Senthil Balaji's wife, S. Malliga.

The necessity of a third judge arrived after Justice Nisha Banu and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy gave a split verdict on Tuesday in the case.

Justice Karthikeyan will now hear the case afresh and his decision will be final which will lead to a verdict of 2:1 as this would be the majority verdict.

Justice J. Nisha Banu had held the Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) maintainable and declared that the minister's detention was illegal.

The judge immediately ordered the release of the minister forthwith. However, her colleague in the same bench, Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy disagreed with the conclusions of Justice Nisha Banu as also the reasons given by her in passing her conclusions. This has led to a split verdict and the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court has now ordered Justice Karthikeyan to hear the case afresh and his decision will be final.