Supreme Court Slams ED: The Supreme Court has termed the attitude shown by former Haryana Congress MLA Surendra Panwar during his nearly 15-hour-long interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as “arbitrary” and “inhuman” and upheld the order declaring the leader’s arrest illegal. kept. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said this was inhuman conduct by the ED officials as the case was not related to any terrorist activity but alleged illegal sand mining.
The bench said, “People should not be treated like this in a case like this.” You have forced a person to give a statement.” Rejecting the Enforcement Directorate’s petition against the High Court order, the bench said, “We are not inclined to interfere with the finding of the High Court that the defendant The arrest was illegal.
Supreme Court’s comment
The bench said the high court’s findings were only to decide whether Panwar’s arrest was illegal or not. “These findings are in violation of Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” the bench said in its order on December 2. The court said that the ED’s attitude in the investigation is “shocking” under which a person was virtually forced to give a statement.
ED defense
ED lawyer Zoheb Hussain said that the High Court had wrongly concluded that Panwar was interrogated continuously for 14 hours and 40 minutes. He pointed to dinner ‘breaks’ during interrogation. The lawyer said that the ED, in a 2024 circular, had asked its officers to maintain certain standards of interrogation and ensure that people are not detained during late night and early morning hours. Should not be interrogated.
The High Court had on September 29, 2024 said that as per the grounds of arrest, the charges against the petitioner primarily relate to illegal mining or supply of illegally mined material. The High Court had said that illegal mining is an offense under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), but it cannot be considered a scheduled offense under PMLA. Therefore, prima facie, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted on this ground.” Panwar (55) was detained in Gurugram in the early hours of July 20, 2024 and produced before a special PMLA court in Ambala, which found him illegal. Sent to ED custody till July 29, 2024 in a money laundering case related to mining.
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