The Enforcement Directorate (ED) failed to furnish direct evidence linking Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the proceeds of crime in the money laundering case against him, a Delhi court has said while ordering his release on bail.
He referred to the top court's 2022 judgement in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case and said it had held that ED officers are not "police officers".
The court remanded advocate Uke and his brother Pradeep Uke in the ED's custody till April 6.
The central agency has pressed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after taking cognisance of a FIR and charge sheet filed by the Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) district police in Uttar Pradesh last month against him and other linked to him.
"The investigation has revealed that Singh had assured to get changes through Manish Sisodia in the then proposed Excise Policy of 2020-21 to increase the brand registration criterion for IMFL brands at the behest of Amit Arora and Dinesh Arora.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday continued its searches at places linked to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara as part of the probe into alleged gold smuggling-linked money laundering case against Kannada actress Ranya Rao and others, official sources said.
The ED case of money laundering in the excise policy stems from a CBI FIR in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and some bureaucrats have been named as accused. The excise policy has been rolled back now.
Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law B M Mallikarjun Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased a land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Lokayukta police establishment, located in Mysuru on September 27, following the order of the Special Court that exclusively deals with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs.
The fresh charges against Chandrashekhar pertain to Rs 3.5 crore that Malvinder Singh's wife Japna is alleged to have paid after she was conned that this money would be used to bail her husband out.
Sources said that the footage was recorded in video-only format during interrogation as the CCTV system did not have audio recording facility at the time. Audio recordings were added to the video capturing system of the ED interrogation process only in October last year, sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to appear before it on February 26 for questioning in the excise policy linked money laundering case, official sources said Thursday.
National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday for questioning in a money laundering case, official sources said.
Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said he will appear before the ED, which had summoned him in connection with its probe into a money laundering case, "after the legal process is completed".
They are understood to have promoted the Mahadev app and some had entertained guests at a wedding of a promoter of the app (application) that was held abroad.
The 71-year-old politician has been asked to depose at the agency office in Kochi on January 12, they said.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the parties shall file brief written submissions not exceeding five pages.
'The present case is a classic case of how the ruling party led central government has misused the central agency- Enforcement Directorate and its wide powers under PMLA to crush its biggest political opponent -Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders'
Singh was under investigation by the federal agency as part of the case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against an educational trust run by his wife and former legislator Kanta Andotra, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches at some places linked to asset manager Franklin Templeton and its former and current executives as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said on Thursday. The federal agency is looking to gather more evidence as part of its investigation against the company and its promoters under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Office and residential premises in Mumbai and Chennai are being searched, they said.
"The Enforcement Directorate had prayed for seven days' remand, which we vehemently opposed. The ED was granted five days' remand," Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan told reporters.
Tina Ambani, wife of Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani, on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai for questioning and recording her statement in connection with an investigation linked to the alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, official sources said. Anil Ambani had recorded his statement in the case on Monday under sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and he is expected to appear before the central agency again later this week for completion of the exercise.
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was questioned for about nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi on Monday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam in the state.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the two probe agencies, told a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti he has instructions to state that the agencies are considering making AAP an accused, invoking legal provisions on "vicarious liability" under the anti-corruption law and section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Kavitha Kalvakuntla, 44, a Bharat Rashtra Samiti MLC, declared this in a late-night post on her official Twitter handle.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday told the Delhi high court that the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was based on 'perverse' findings as it did not consider the material demonstrating his 'neck deep involvement' in the offence of money laundering linked to the alleged excise scam.
'This move rendered the chiefs of important investigative agencies to the status of daily wage earners. It undermined the autonomy and independence of the agencies.'
The Enforcement Directorate's (ED's) chargesheet in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) illegal phone-tapping case points to insider trading during the tenures of Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain as managing director and chief executive officer of the bourse. The federal agency will soon be sharing the details with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for further inquiry, two people aware of the findings told Business Standard. The ED, which filed its prosecution complaint (commonly known as chargesheet), alleged that Narain and Ramkrishna were the "key conspirators" and had assisted iSec Services to generate money to the tune of Rs 24 crore for exchanging crucial information, the people said.
The agency also alleged that Deshmukh exercised undue influence to pass favourable transfers and postings of the police officials.
The attached properties include 14 assets of Tuteja worth Rs 15.82 crore, 115 properties of Anwar Dhebar, the elder brother of Raipur Mayor and Congress leader Aijaz Dhebar, worth Rs 116.16 crore, properties of Vikash Agarwal alias Subbu worth Rs 1.54 crore and 33 properties of Arvind Singh worth Rs 12.99 crore, it said in a statement.
Absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi has been detained in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies for his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank loan 'fraud' case, official sources said Monday. The action against the diamantaire was taken on Saturday.
An Odisha college student who set herself ablaze following alleged sexual harassment by a professor has died at AIIMS Bhubaneswar. The incident has sparked outrage, with the Chief Minister promising strict action against the culprits.
The ED case has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency will record the statement of the accused. The central agency will investigate if proceeds of crime were generated by the accused by laundering of funds that were earned through the alleged gold smuggling racket.
Raghav Magunta was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday evening, they said.
National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case in Delhi on May 31, official sources said on Friday.
Kejriwal has so far skipped multiple summonses of the ED, calling them illegal and asking the agency to wait as the matter was in court.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested four persons including the MD of the Lava International mobile company and a Chinese national as part of its ongoing money-laundering probe against Chinese smartphone-maker Vivo, official sources said on Tuesday. They identified the four as Hari Om Rai, the MD of Lava International company, Chinese national Guangwen Kyang, chartered accountant Nitin Garg and a person called Rajan Malik. They have been taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Enforcement Directorate has taken cognisance of Delhi minister Atishi's statement that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent her directions from the agency's custody to initiate public welfare works related to water and sewerage, official sources said on Sunday.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday for more than 13 hours in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board under his chairmanship, officials said.
Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for "unethical conduct", has been renominated by her party from West Bengal's Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was called for questioning twice earlier by the central agency, but she did not depose citing official work and sought deferment of the notice.
