THE Supreme Court on Friday flagged “disturbing features” in the arrest of former IAS officer Anil Tuteja by the E n forcement Directorate in a money laundering case related to the alleged Chhattisgarh liquor scam. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih termed the facts of the case as “glaring” and recorded the “disturbing features” in the arrest of the former bureaucrat on April 20.

 

“Thepetitioner (AnilTuteja)on April 20, 2024, at around 4.30pm was sitting in the ACB office at Raipur. Firstly, he was served summons directing him to appear before ED at 12 am. Thereafter,anothersummonwas served while he was in the office of ACB calling upon him to appearbeforeEDat5.30 pm. Thereafter, he was taken to theofficeofED in a van brought by the EDand was interrogated throughout thenight and arrested at 4 am. The facts are glaring,” thebenchunderlinedinitsorder. It allowed senior advocate AbhishekManuSinghvi andother lawyers appearing for Tuteja towithdrawhisappealandgranted him liberty to approach the trial court for bail. “The SLPs are disposed of as withdrawn with liberty to apply forbail andif any such application are made considering the peculiar facts of the case, thespecialcourtconcerned will give necessary priority in disposal of the bail application,” directed the bench. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, informed the bench that the agency had to takeremedialmeasures toensure suchincidentswereavoided and there was a press release to this effectissuedonOctober29,2024. During the hearing, Singhvi said the top court previously quashed the money laundering caseregisteredbytheEDonApril 8, 2024. He contended the ED, three dayslater, registeredanew ECIR (complaint) based on the same set of facts and material saying the agency couldn’t have new informationinsucha short time.