In a plea filed by a businessman challenging his arrest at odd hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Supreme Court of India has sought a response from the central probe agency and has given the petitioner the opportunity to move the vacation benches for bail.
New Delhi: For the past months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been extremely active and has been making a lot of arrests in various cases including the money laundering cases. However, a lot of opposition leaders have been opposing the way the central probe agency is working and have also accused of it being aligned with the central government. Recently, a 64-year-old businessman has filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate at odd hours after a night-long session of questioning. Responding to the plea, the Supreme Court of India has not only sought response from the probe agency, but has also granted the petitioner liberty to move vacation benches in order to get bail.
Can ED Make Arrests In Odd Hours? SC Seeks Response
As mentioned earlier, the Enforcement Directorate has been asked to submit a response to the apex court in a plea filed, challenging the agency’s trend of making arrests at odd hours. The plea was heard by the bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. The order stated, “Issue notice, returnable in three weeks. Dasti notice on the Standing Counsel through the Central Agency Section, in addition.” The plea had been filed by a businessman Ram Issrani who had alleged that he was illegally arrested by the ED in a bank fraud case.
Businessman Files Plea Challenging Arrest At Unearthly Hours
A 64-year-old businessman Ram Issrani had filed a plea challenging his arrest and had accused ED of illegally arresting him in an alleged bank fraud case. According to the businessman’s claims, he was asked to wait at the ED office on August 7-8 and his statement was finally recorded from 10:30 PM to 3:00 AM. He has alleged that after being made to stay awake for 20 hours at a stretch, he was shown to be arrested at 5:30 AM.
While Bombay High Court refused to quash the arrest and remand which led to instant appeal, the Bombay HC directed the central probe agency to issue a circular or directions about timings for recording the statements at the time of issuing summons for interrogation. The court also reiterated that an ED investigation is different from an investigation under CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) as it was deemed to be a judicial proceeding.
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