CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court ruled Wednesday that ED’s July 20 arrest of Congress’ Haryana MLA Surender Panwar in a money laundering case was “indefensible in law” and carried out in a manner that was “against the dignity of human rights”.
Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu, who was hearing Panwar’s petition challenging his arrest, directed the central agency to sensitise its officers about the rights of anyone under investigation and take steps to avoid illegalities.
“It would be appreciated if some necessary mechanism is put in place for fair investigation of the accused per basic human rights laid down by the United Nations,” the court said in a 37 page order.
“The petitioner was issued notice/summons under Section 50 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) and (he) appeared in the zonal office of ED at Gurugram on July 19 at 11am...He was constantly interrogated for 14 hours and 40 minutes, which is not heroic on the part of ED.”
Panwar, who is seeking re-election from Haryana’s Sonipat constituency, contends that he has been “falsely implicated on political grounds”.
Justice Sindhu noted that the foundation of the case was illegal mining , which is not a scheduled offence under the PMLA. “Hence, prima facie, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted on that count.”
ED’s counsel said the MLA’s arrest was based on available evidence about his links to a syndicate generating fakee-rawana bills for illegal mining, resulting in significant revenue loss to the state. The agency accused Panwar of receiving around Rs 26 crore as proceeds of the crime.
Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu, who was hearing Panwar’s petition challenging his arrest, directed the central agency to sensitise its officers about the rights of anyone under investigation and take steps to avoid illegalities.
“It would be appreciated if some necessary mechanism is put in place for fair investigation of the accused per basic human rights laid down by the United Nations,” the court said in a 37 page order.
“The petitioner was issued notice/summons under Section 50 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) and (he) appeared in the zonal office of ED at Gurugram on July 19 at 11am...He was constantly interrogated for 14 hours and 40 minutes, which is not heroic on the part of ED.”
Panwar, who is seeking re-election from Haryana’s Sonipat constituency, contends that he has been “falsely implicated on political grounds”.
Justice Sindhu noted that the foundation of the case was illegal mining , which is not a scheduled offence under the PMLA. “Hence, prima facie, the petitioner cannot be prosecuted on that count.”
ED’s counsel said the MLA’s arrest was based on available evidence about his links to a syndicate generating fakee-rawana bills for illegal mining, resulting in significant revenue loss to the state. The agency accused Panwar of receiving around Rs 26 crore as proceeds of the crime.
