Power to arrest must be used sparingly: ASG to ED officials
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju on Thursday asked Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers not to make arrests in money-laundering cases 'hastily' as this would not yield them good results in courts, and advised them to rather use their powers to arrest sparingly and at a later stage of investigation.
Speaking at an ED Day event at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, ASG Raju, who represents the federal agency in multiple high-profile cases, emphasised that the provision of arrest is 'very crucial' for all agencies that carry out investigations as often, it is the threat of arrest that makes a person disclose certain things.
'Arrest is very crucial for all agencies which are carrying out investigation. Many times, it is the threat of arrest that makes a person disclose certain things. You must use your power to arrest not liberally but sparingly, and you must use it at a very late stage, not at a nascent stage (of investigation),' Raju said.
The event, marking completion of 69 years of the establishment of the agency, was also attended by Union minister of state (MoS) for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, ED director Rahul Navin, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Praveen Sood, and senior officers of the financial crimes probe agency.
Elaborating on why the arrest should be delayed, the ASG said: 'Under PMLA (prevention of money laundering act), you must furnish the grounds of arrest and reasons to believe before taking someone into custody. So, if you arrest a person early, you may not have those grounds of arrest or you may not have reasons to believe that undergo the scrutiny of courts to say that yes reasons are justifiable for arrest.'
'So, if you delay it (arrest) a little bit, you will get proper appreciation of courts also. Many times, courts say grounds of arrest or reasons to believe are not proper,' Raju added.
He said arrest also defeats the purpose of section 50 of the PMLA, under which ED records the statements of people connected to the case that are admissible as 'evidence' in the courts. Material evidence can be gathered when ED interrogates a person, but if a person is arrested, the section 50 statement becomes 'vulnerable' and it is no longer evidence, the ASG said.
'So, you have to obtain a section-50 statement before the arrest ... and therefore, my second suggestion is that do not be hasty in arresting people. Take your time, get the evidence and then arrest,' he added.
Raju said if ED arrests a person early, when the investigation is not over, and due to this, the agency is not able to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days, then the accused, even a worst offender, will get the 'default' bail.
The senior law officer also suggested that 'hawala' dealers should be categorised as reporting entities, so that they provide information to the agency about their clients who move huge amounts of cash.
Raju also asked ED to be careful about section invoking vicarious liability – making director of a company liable for it. He was referring to the agency naming former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as accused along with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi excise irregularities by invoking section 70 of the PMLA.
The companies under Section 70 can be defined as partnership firm or an association of persons (AOP) etc.
'We are today facing the issue if a political party was an AOP and our case is that it is an AOP...that it is a deemed company under Section 70. And we have referred to the representation of the people act. This is pending in court so I will not say much,' he said.
On the occasion, ED director Navin said the anti-money laundering law was left largely ineffective before 2014, and the slowdown in adjudication of these cases can be attributed to the general delay in the judicial system of the country coupled with the inherent complexity of such investigations.
He also said ED had a 'commendable conviction' rate of 93.6% as out of the 47 cases decided by courts till now, there have been only three acquittals.
'After 2014, however, there has been a significant step-up in enforcement activity. From 2014 to 2024, 5,113 new PMLA investigations were initiated, averaging more than 500 cases per year,' the agency chief said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Gazette
4 hours ago
- India Gazette
Delhi HC reserves order on bail plea of Vedpal Singh Tanwar, ED opposed
New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved an order on Vedpal Singh Tanwar's bail plea after hearing submissions from counsel for the petitioner and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court said it would pronounce the order today. Tanwar is an accused in a money laundering case linked to illegal mining in the Dadam area of Haryana. Justice Girish Kathpalia reserved the order after hearing the arguments advanced by Advocate Zoheb Hossain, Special Counsel for ED and rebuttal arguments by Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa. Special Counsel Zoheb Hosain for ED, while opposing the bail plea, submitted that the accused is not in long incarceration as he was admitted on interim bail and was in the hospital for a considerable time. There is a 165-day effective incarceration only. Hosain submitted that Tanwar is the mastermind in this case. He is not sick and infirm. As per the AIIMS report, he is perfectly fine. In his case, the twin conditions of PMLA squarely apply. ED's counsel opposed the submissions made by the counsel for the accused, saying that no offence was made against him as the Environment Protection Act was decriminalised. ED argued that excessive mining began in February 2019. There was excessive sand and stone mining by the accused persons in this case. Zoheb Hossain argued that the Punjab and Haryana High Courts have not issued an order quashing the FIR or the present ECIR. An FIR was registered in August 2023, and ECIR was registered in September 2023. Consequently, Tanwar was arrested in May 2024. ED's counsel argued that the alleged offences under section 420 (Cheating) and 120B (Criminal Conspiracy) were part of the ECIR. 'There is Illegal stone mining in this case. There are allegations of cheating. Fraudulent representations were made to the government as Tanwar was blacklisted by the Haryana government,' Zoheb Hossain said. 'His firm, Ridhi Siddhi, was blacklisted by the Haryana Government. He was not allowed to participate in mining auctions. He was blacklisted, he can't bid,' Hossain added. Hossain further argued that Tanwar did it through another firm, Goverdhan Mining and Mineral (GMM). Tanwar controlled the affairs of that firm. He was the CEO of GMM and withdrew his salary of Rs. 10 lakh per month. On the other hand, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa advanced rebuttal arguments for Tanwar. He submitted that cognisance is not taken against Tanwar; prima facie, there is no offence against him. The NGT order has been set aside, and the FIR is pending. The special director of ED has become the complainant; she is also the informant, the Senior advocate added. Tanwar has moved a plea through advocate Sumer Singh Boparai and Aman Sharma. ED had arrested Ved Pal Singh Tanwar under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on May 30, 2024, in connection with illegal mining in the Dadam area of Haryana. As per ED, it initiated an investigation on the basis of the Prosecution Complaint filed by the Regional Officer, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Bhiwani, before the Special Environment Court, Kurukshetra, against the Firm M/s. Govardhan Mines and Minerals for violating the conditions of the Environment Clearance under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Subsequently, an FIR was registered by the Haryana Police under various sections of the IPC, 1860. ED said that the investigation revealed that the Firm has been involved in large-scale illegal and unscientific mining in the Dadam area of Haryana. It had led to large-scale damage to the environment and a huge loss to the exchequer. It is worth mentioning here that rampant illegal mining in the area led to the killing of 5 persons due to landslides, ED said in a press note. (ANI)
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Pet zebra recaptured after week on the run, airlifted to safety in Tennessee
A pet zebra named Ed, who had been on the run for a week in Tennessee, was finally recaptured on Sunday and dramatically airlifted to safety, much to the relief of local authorities and the delight of social media users. Ed was found grazing in a pasture near a residential area in Christiana, about 40 miles from Nashville, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office. His unusual escape captivated the internet, inspiring a slew of memes showing him in bizarre situations, from dining at Waffle House to panhandling across Tennessee. Also read: Disturbing video shows Indian student in US pinned to floor, handcuffed before deportation To secure Ed safely, officials called in an aviation team. 'Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer,' the sheriff's office confirmed. A video posted by the department showed Ed wrapped in a net with his head sticking out, gently dangling beneath a helicopter as he was transported. The zebra first went missing on May 31. Deputies had spotted him sprinting alongside Interstate 24, prompting a temporary shutdown of the roadway. But Ed managed to dodge capture, slipping into nearby woods. Over the following days, he was seen wandering through neighbourhoods around Christiana but continued to elude authorities. Despite the growing online fanbase hoping he'd venture further, Ed never left Christiana and is now on track to return home safely. Ed's week-long adventure joins a string of unusual animal escapes this year. In April, a kangaroo caused a two-car crash after hopping down a highway in Alabama before being tranquilised and returned. In February, a baby seal was spotted in New Haven, Connecticut, but sadly died days after being taken to Mystic Aquarium. Also read: US techie describes 'ghost-like' interactions with Indian colleagues: 'No face, no voice'
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
X/Grok during Operation Sindoor tells us that Musk isn't walking his talk
A nomad interested in twisting the kaleidoscope of science and looking for new patterns Though Russia-Ukraine and Isreal-Palestine wars have been first X-ed and then Grok-ed, we in India were not able to appreciate or criticise the role played by global communication platform X (enabled by AI of Grok) during a war-like situation. As X also played a key and probably decisive role in Biden-Trump war, Elon Musk, the owner of X has been hard-selling himself as messiah of freedom of expression by claiming to have kept X free from the biased censorship. By adding Grok to X, Musk has indicated that humanity now has an artificial intelligence tool that will weed out the false/fake information, making X a dream-come-true for we the common citizens of the world, who never had a voice that was free. Till we looked at the way Grok-enabled X has delivered till now from a safe distance, it was tempting to believe that Musk has really changed the world of mass communication. But, as we in India are now getting to experience its performance in a war-like situation of Operation Sindoor, it is becoming clear that Mr. Musk ain't walking the talk, and here is why. X has features that are indicative of the fact that it is not a communication platform that humanity can use meaningfully. First is the 'Blue Tick'. Blue Tick is an instant destroyer of free speech, as one core values of free speech is equality right to be heard. Musk has made blue tick a business and, by giving priority to those with blue tick in displaying comments, X is clearly not a platform for freedom of expression. It is a platform where money matters more than truth or quality of content. The other weakness brought to X by blue tick model is the lack of due-diligence. Thanks to Operation Sindoor, it is now possible to see this clearly as a lot of fake handles created purely to deceive and misinform are granted authenticity by blue tick just because Musk gets to make money from them. Second is the 'Hashtag'. The design of the tool of hashtag is a dead giveaway that X of Musk is least bothered about ensuring fair flow of information that is critical for communication. If X was The (only) Forum for freedom of speech, it would have first built technology that disallows false hashtagging before offering it as a tool to club and collate information. The way hashtag is designed, it is entirely possible to use hashtag PoK for a post that is actually a cat video tells us that X is not about information. In fact, most of the posts on X can be found to be misusing hashtags to ride the popular wave. Hashtag feature tells us that X is about eyeballs and eyeballs only. And third is 'Community Notes'. Community Notes is a feature touted by X/Musk as a way to give power to the people and it does work, but it is probably the smartest way to fool people into thinking that X is designed to weed out false/fake information when you look at this tool in the context of Grok (or any other AI tool like perplexity). And the best way to understand is by looking at posts about Operation Sindoor. Almost 90 % of posts about 'crashed' aircraft or 'bombing' that had flooded X used either an old and unrelated image or an AI-generated video from a war game. This is not new as same happens during any catastrophe such as an earthquake or a cyclone. X allows millions of posts everyday that are clearly using old or unrelated or AI-generated images. The falsity of these posts is easiest to verify using simple tool like Google lens and yet X smartly waits for 'community' to make the effort and flag only a few of these posts by using community notes feature. This is probably the biggest giveaway that Musk has very little interest in providing humans with a dependable global platform for information exchange when we understand the power of Grok that is available to Musk. If Musk really wanted X to be a false-information-free platform, the first use of Grok would have been to weed out what is undisputed false information. A post with a crashed aircraft image that is 10 years old and calling it out using Grok instead of waiting for community notes to respond is surely not censorship or attack on free speech. The fact that the power of Grok is not used for this kind of greater-good action that will make X dependable tells us what Elon Musk is really trying to do. If we look at all the three issues raised above, it is easy to realise that Elon Musk is not interested in free speech or curb the toxicity of fake/false information. The one and only point of interest for Musk is to encourage more and more use of X and in turn Grok, at whatever cost. The traffic shift to X is a game changer. The lawlessness of X is encouraging people to use it to lie and drive agenda using misinformation. This, in turn increases use of Grok and hence Grok is on the way to become fastest evolving AI on the planet. As Elon Musk started with a bit of disadvantage against old players like Google or Facebook that enjoyed a decade of lead in farming data, he had to find ways and means to accelerate the data-collection for his AI and by buying X and turning it into the most-used platform today, he has managed to catch up and go beyond. Looking at the ambitions that Musk has, it is unlikely that he is going to be interested in actually gifting humanity with a platform that he is claiming X to be. But, if he really means it, he needs to at least: Remove chargeable blue tick Allow blue tick only after ensuring that it is used by a real human being Remove priority listing given to blue tick and instead link it with the popularity of the post Make it impossible to use unrelated hashtag Use Grok to weed out what is indisputably fake/false information If all of the above is integrated into X framework, it can really be what Elon Musk is claiming it to be. Till then, it is a danger to peace and harmony of our diverse planet. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
