'Against human dignity': HC quashes ED arrest of Haryana Congress MLA; slams long grilling sessions

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the ED arrest of Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar in a money laundering case, saying there was "no material" with the agency to substantiate that he was involved in the offence.

The order that also enlarged the politician on bail was pronounced by Judge Mahabir Singh Sindhu on Monday and the 37-page order was uploaded on court website on Wednesday.

Panwar, who the Congress has again chosen as its Sonipat candidate for assembly polls in Haryana, had filed a petition before the HC, contending his arrest and remand was illegal and seeking interim bail for him.

The HC came down heavily on the Enforcement Directorate, asking it to take some reasonable time limit for investigation and not perpetrate "unnecessary harassment." It also recorded that the legislator was grilled for close to 15 hours at a stretch before being arrested.

Panwar, 55, was arrested by the ED on July 20 at its zonal office in Gurugram as part of an investigation into an alleged illegal mining in Haryana linked money laundering case.

The HC said "prima facie, the petitioner (Panwar) has not been found involved in any illegal activity, in any manner whatsoever, attracting the offence of money laundering under PMLA."

PMLA stands for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It added that the arrest order, as well as grounds of arrest, issued by the ED against him and two remand orders issued by a special court in Ambala were "quashed and set aside being indefensible in law." "Resultantly, the petitioner be released forthwith, if not required in any other case," the order said.

The HC said that as "illegal mining" was not a scheduled offence under the PMLA, hence, prima facie, petitioner (Panwar) cannot be prosecuted on that count." Rejecting the ED's charge that Panwar was a beneficiary of a syndicate running illegal mining, the court said that was "no material to substantiate that petitioner is having any relationship and/or concern as Director, promoter or share holder of the so-called G.M. Co." It added, "Even, the ED has failed to show that such a company is in existence and/or registered with the Registrar of Companies; or there is any such legal entity in operation under any law?" GM Co was alleged to be one of the companies involved in the "illegal" mining syndicate.

The HC said ED could not produce any material that Panwar was the director or a person in-charge of the affairs of another accused company called DSPL.

Rather, it said, information gathered from the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs "clearly proves" that Panwar ceased to be the director from November 7, 2013 of the said company and had no role in its affairs.

The HC said Panwar was "constantly interrogated" from 11 am on July 19 to 1.40 am on July 20, which, it said, was "not heroic on the part of ED rather it is against the dignity of a human being." "For future, in view of the mandate under Article 21 of the Constitution, this Court is observing that the Directorate of Enforcement shall take remedial measures and sensitize the officers to follow some reasonable time limit for investigation in one go against the suspect(s) in such like cases.

"To be precise, it would be appreciated if some necessary mechanism is put in place for fair investigation of the accused as per basic human rights laid down by the United Nations Organization (UNO), instead of meting out unnecessary harassment, for such a longer duration at one stretch for a given day," the court ordered.

The ED had claimed that Panwar "received proceeds of crime" of about Rs 26 crore as part of the alleged illegal mining done in Yamunanagar district of the state.

The court made it clear that the order should "not be construed as an expression of opinion on merits of the complaint" filed by the ED before the special court in Ambala.