look news india
New Delhi, 6 December (Hindustan Reporter). The Supreme Court has expressed strong objection to the ED’s method of arresting Chhattisgarh liquor scam accused Anil Tuteja in the money laundering case. A bench headed by Justice AS Oka directed the ED to issue internal guidelines regarding recording the statements of the accused under Section 50 of the Money Laundering Act that the statements should not be recorded late at night and they should be taken during the day during office hours. Be recorded accordingly.
The Supreme Court noted that on April 20, Anil Tuteja was sitting in the Raipur office of Anti Corruption Bureau at 4.30 pm. ED summoned him for questioning at 12 noon and called him for questioning at 5:30. After that the ED took Anil Tuteja to its office in a van. There Anil Tuteja was interrogated till late night and his arrest was shown at 4 am the next day. The Supreme Court said that this work of ED is not excusable.
During the hearing, ASG SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said that preventive measures have been taken to stop such methods. During the hearing, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Tuteja, said that the Supreme Court had quashed the money laundering case registered against Tuteja on April 8. Three days later, ED registered a new case based on the facts of the same case. Then Justice Oka asked the ED whether another case could be registered based on the facts of the case which had been quashed.
ED is investigating money laundering in this case from 2019 to 2022. ED has seized 119 immovable properties worth Rs 121.87 crore from the accused Anwar Dhebar, Arunpati Tripathi and officer Anil Tuteja in this case. According to ED, Rs 2,000 crore was earned in this scam. In this case, the then Bhupesh Baghel government of Chhattisgarh was accused of bribery while purchasing liquor from the state body for purchase and sale of liquor.
