The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to monitor the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) investigation into real estate firm IREO Residences, finding no merit in the allegations of bias. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora criticized the petitioner, Gulshan Babbar, for withholding crucial information and imposed a fine of ₹1.25 lakh for misleading the court.
Babbar had alleged lapses in the ED's probe into alleged financial irregularities of ₹1,317 crore involving bank loans and land parcels in Gurugram. However, the High Court dismissed Babbar's petitions based on a lack of locus standi and non-maintainability. The court upheld the ED's authority to conduct its investigation into IREO Residences without external monitoring.
In related news concerning the Enforcement Directorate, the Delhi High Court also dismissed a plea by Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez seeking to quash an FIR against her in a ₹200 crore money laundering case involving alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Justice Anish Dayal dismissed her plea, which also sought to quash the second supplementary chargesheet of the Enforcement Directorate in the case and proceedings pending in a Delhi trial court. The ED counsel argued that a special court had already taken cognizance of the chargesheet and found a prima facie case, which was not challenged.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court has recently criticized the ED regarding bail conditions for women in money laundering cases, stating that rigorous conditions should not apply to women when statutory exceptions exist. The Bombay High Court also fined the ED ₹1 lakh for a baseless money-laundering probe against a realtor, penalizing the complainant for malafide intent.
In another case, a special court in Mumbai rejected diamond merchant Mehul Choksi's plea against a notice issued to him on the Enforcement Directorate's application seeking to declare him a Fugitive Economic Offender in the multi-million dollar PNB scam. The court noted that the order issuing the notice was not based on wrong facts or mistaken assumptions. Choksi's lawyers argued that the ED's arguments were contradictory, but the court did not find merit in this claim.
