The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to intervene in the arrest of Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty company M3M Group, in connection with a bribery case involving a judge.
Their arrest was made on Thursday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of a money laundering investigation connected to an alleged bribery case involving a former judge and others.
The M3M directors argued that their arrest violated the high court order that had previously granted them protection from coercive action in another money laundering case.
However, the court stated that it lacked jurisdiction to decide on the legality of their arrest since the order was issued by a court in Panchkula, Haryana.
“I am of the view that once an order of remand has been passed by a court of competent jurisdiction in Panchkula, the appropriate remedy is to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” said Justice Jasmeet Singh.
The court granted the ED 10 days to respond to the main petition challenging the arrest and issued a notice.
The judge orally said: “We will issue notice. My territorial jurisdiction restricts me. I won’t be able to say this order (by the Panchkula trial court) is bad.”
The court then listed the matter for next hearing in July.
On June 9, the high court had granted Bansals interim protection from arrest till July 5 in a money laundering case linked to real estate firm IREO.
During the hearing, the senior advocates representing the petitioners argued that the arrest was arbitrary and that the ED had disregarded the high court order.
On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju representing the ED opposed the petition and claimed that the present case (bribery case) was a “gross case” which pertained to the independence of the judiciary.
He said that the arrest has been tested by a competent court, resulting in ED custody.
The money laundering case for which the Bansals were arrested stems from an FIR filed by the Haryana Police Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Sudhir Parmar, a former special judge for ED and CBI cases, who was posted in Panchkula, his nephew and a third M3M group director, Roop Kumar Bansal.
The FIR alleged that Parmar showed favouritism to the accused individuals in the criminal cases of the ED and CBI pending in his court.
The ED said that it has gathered incriminating evidence, such as bank statements and a money trail, to support the allegations mentioned in the FIR.
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