ED Officer's Arrest By Tamil Nadu DVAC | Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking CBI Enquiry, Says State Has Power To Investigate

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a PIL seeking CBI enquiry into the arrest of Ankit Tiwari, the Enforcement Directorate Officer arrested by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption for allegedly collecting Rs 20 Lakh bribe from a government doctor threatening to reopen a case against him. The bench of Justice M Sundar and Justice R Sakthivel dismissed the plea and remarked that the State investigating agency had the power to investigate when the officers in the central force were engaged in such wrongdoings. Ankit was arrested earlier this month by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. The DVAC had alleged that Ankit had demanded a sum of 3 crore rupees from one Dr. Suresh Babu as a bribe to close the pending case against him and later scaled down the demand to Rs. 51 Lakh. Out of this, Rs. 20 Lakh was allegedly paid on November 1, 2023, and it was alleged that Tiwari had continued to demand the balance amount from the de-facto complainant Babu, which led to him filing the complaint and Tiwari's subsequent arrest. Following Tiwari's arrest, the DVAC had also conducted searches in the offices of the Enforcement Directorate. An advocate from Madurai, J Vivek had approached the court seeking to refrain the Tamil Nasu police from investigating the matter and to subsequently transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Vivek contended that since the ED had conducted a raid on the premises of various political parties, the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption was targeting ED officials to wreak vengeance and had arrested Tiwari in the process. Vivek submitted that the DVAC officials had forcefully entered the office of the ED with unauthorized persons illegally detained the ED officials at Madurai and even seized some documents and other secret files of the ED. Vivek alleged that the DVAC officials had entered the ED premises and collected documents with a malafide intention to collect materials in support of allegations against the members of the ruling party. It was thus submitted that the entire activity was politically motivated and if allowed to continue, would affect the rights and duties of the State and the Central Government Department. Vivek further submitted that when a Central Government staff was involved in any malpractice for unlawful consideration, the competent authority to take action against the erring official was the Central Vigilance Commission and the State government had no role to take action against the Central Government staff. Thus, for a fair and just investigation, Vivek sought for transfer of the investigation to the CBI. Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Mad) 394 Case Title: J Vivek v Principal Secretary and Others Case No: WP (MD) 30029 of 2023

ED Officer's Arrest By Tamil Nadu DVAC | Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking CBI Enquiry, Says State Has Power To Investigate

Upasana Sajeev

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