SC condemns ED’s ‘high-handedness’, upholds arrest of ex-Haryana Congress MLA illegal – ThePrint – PTIFeed

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) Observing ED’s “high handedness” and “inhuman conduct” during nearly 15 hours of interrogation of former Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar, the Supreme Court upheld an order saying his arrest was illegal.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustinus George Masih said it was an “inhuman conduct” on part of the ED officers as the case was not related to any terror activity but to an alleged illegal sand mining.

“This is not the way to treat people in such a case. You essentially forced someone to make a statement,” the report said.

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Dismissing the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea against the Supreme Court’s order, the court said: “We are not inclined to interfere with the finding of the Supreme Court that the arrest of the respondent was illegal.” The Supreme Court’s findings, it said, were only to decide whether Panwar’s arrest was illegal.

“These findings will not affect the merits of the pending complaint under Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” the bench said in its decision on December 2.

The court said the ED’s approach in conducting the investigation was a “shocking turn of events”, effectively forcing someone to give a statement.

ED’s counsel Zoheb Hussain said the High Court had erred in concluding that Panwar was continuously interrogated for 2.40 pm, citing a dinner break during interrogation.

The lawyer said that ED in a 2024 circular asked its officials to maintain certain norms of interrogations and ensure that people were not interrogated late at night and in the early hours of the day.

On September 29, 2024, the Supreme Court firstly said, based on the grounds of arrest, that the charges against the petitioner related to illegal mining or supply of illegally extracted material.

Therefore, the report said, the basis of the case was illegal mining, while the rest of the allegations in all nine FIRs were only peripheral and related to illegal mining.

“Of course, ‘illegal mining’ is an offense under section 21 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), but neither ‘illegal mining’ nor the MMDR Act is included in the schedule attached is with the PMLA. In other words, ‘illegal mining’ is not a scheduled offense under the PMLA. Therefore, prima facie, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted on this count,” the Supreme Court said.

It noted that the ED itself said that Panwar was issued a summons under section 50 of the PMLA and appeared for duty in Gurugram on July 19, 2024, around 11 a.m. and was continuously interrogated till 1:40 a.m. (July 20, 2024) for 14 o’clock. and 40 minutes.

The Supreme Court observed that the continuous interrogation for over 14 hours was “not heroic” on the part of ED and rather violative of the dignity of a human being.

“Going forward, in view of the mandate under Article 21 of the Constitution, this court notes that the Enforcement Directorate will take corrective measures and sensitize the officials to follow reasonable time for investigation into one against the suspect(s) in such cases,” the report said.

Rather than subjecting anyone to “unnecessary intimidation” for so long, the Supreme Court called for a necessary mechanism to conduct a fair investigation of the suspect, in accordance with fundamental human rights enshrined by the United Nations.

It was said that there was no material before the ED to substantiate that the petitioner was in any way directly or indirectly involved in any process or activity related to the proceeds of crime or that the same would in no way be held to be untainted considered.

Panwar, 55, was taken into custody in Gurugram in the early hours of July 20, 2024 and produced before a special PMLA court in Ambala, which sent him to ED custody till July 29, 2024 in illegal mining money. -laundry shop.

The agency raided the premises of the former Sonepat MLA in January 2024 on charges of “large-scale illegal mining” in the Yamunanagar area of ​​the state.

The money laundering case stems from several FIRs registered by the Haryana Police for investigation into alleged illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand that took place in Yamunanagar and nearby districts in the past despite a ban imposed by the NGT.

The ED is also probing an alleged fraud in the ‘e-rawana’ scheme, an online portal introduced by the Haryana government in 2020 to simplify collection of royalties and taxes and prevent tax evasion in mining areas.

According to the ED, the alleged illegal mining has generated around Rs 400-500 crore in the last few years. PTI MNL AMK

This report is automatically generated by PTI news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.