Court notice to TN Government on ED plea to shift probe against Ankit Tiwari to CBI

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 25, 2024 17:27 IST

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu Government on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s probe into bribery allegations against an ED officer. The ED’s plea seeks the transfer of the bribery probe against its officer, Ankit Tiwari, from the state’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan, while hearing the case, also directed Tamil Nadu to submit all material collected by the state so far at the next date of the hearing.

During the hearing, the court stressed the need to explore a fair and transparent mechanism that would achieve the ultimate object of a fair investigation, ensuring that no suspect goes scot-free. The court suggested that such a mechanism could be applied to all states and emphasised the importance of looking into the inter-state ramifications, ensuring the guilty are punished while avoiding vindictive arrests.

Justice Kant emphasised the need for the said mechanism to eliminate the apprehension of political vendetta. While refusing to comment on the way the PIL was filed before the High Court and the order that was passed, the court stressed the importance of probing the case in a fair and transparent manner.

According to the court, there may be genuine cases that the ED needs to investigate, and some cases may be malicious. However, a mechanism must be in place to ensure that genuine cases are not overlooked merely because they are handled by the agency.

Pointing out that there are Ministers of the State Government under the ED's scanner, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, informed the court that ED offices were raided, and materials unconnected with the concerned officer were also taken away by the Tamil Nadu DVAC.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Tamil Nadu, questioned why the ED was asking for the details of all the FIRs when they hadn’t asked other states. The court questioned why there is any secrecy when FIRs are supposed to be uploaded online. SG Tushar Mehta told the court that FIRs are supposed to be on the website, but the website of the state police concerning the FIRs is blocked on the orders of the competent authority.

The court also asked Sibal about the state’s propriety in saying that it would not permit further investigation by the ED in an FIR for corruption or illegal mining. Sibal responded, stating that in such a case, money laundering is the offence, not the proceeds of crime; therefore, the ED won’t be entitled to probe without money laundering.

The SG also contended that the state government is not sharing the predicate offence details with the ED. While refusing to name the state, the SG said that the ED had raided an officer connected with a sitting Chief Minister, and a circular was issued saying that no officer would respond to the ED summons without the state’s approval.