ED Assistant Director Apologises In Madras High Court For Issuing Show Cause Notice Despite Stay Order

The Assistant Director of Enforcement, Vikas Kumar, issued an unconditional apology to the Madras High Court on Monday for having issued a show cause notice to film producer Akash Baskaran, despite a High Court stay. The apology was made before a bench of Justice MS Ramesh and Justice V Lakshminarayanan. The court was hearing a contempt plea filed by Baskaran for continuing the probe in an alleged money laundering case despite a stay issued by the High Court. Akash Baskaran, along with businessman Vikram Ravindran, had approached the High Court challenging the ED action, allegedly searching and sealing their premises. It was alleged that the ED had sealed the residential flat and the office of the petitioners since it was locked at the time of the search. The court had then directed the Directorate to produce the documents based on which the ED had initiated the action. On perusing the documents, the court held that the authorisation based on which the ED had conducted searches at the offices and residences of the petitioners was prima facie without jurisdiction since there was no incriminating material against them. The court also observed that the materials produced by the ED had no semblance of any information on which the ED had decided to take action against the petitioners. The court had thus, on June 20, 2025, stayed all proceedings initiated by the ED against the petitioners. Baskaran had filed the present contempt plea alleging that he received a show cause notice from the Adjudicating Authority along with a covering letter enclosing a copy of the Recording of reasons under Section 8(1) of the PMLA and a note for compliance with reference to the notice under Section 8(1), a copy of the original application and one set of relied upon documents. Though it was submitted that the show cause notice might have been issued due to an oversight, the court expressed its displeasure and issued a statutory notice to the Assistant Director. Though this order was challenged in the Supreme Court, it was dismissed. Following this, the Assistant Director tendered his unconditional apology. Taking note of his apology, the court purged him from further proceedings. Case Title: Akash Baskaran v The Joint Director and Others Case No: Cont P 2708 of 2025

ED Assistant Director Apologises In Madras High Court For Issuing Show Cause Notice Despite Stay Order

Upasana Sajeev

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