Solicitor General Seeks Stay Of Kerala Police Probe Against ED; High Court To Consider Tomorrow
Appearing before the Kerala High Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a halt on the investigation conducted by the Kerala Police against officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). In its FIR, the Kerala Crime Branch accused officials of the ED of coercing gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh into implicating the Chief Minister, Ministers and other high ranking members...
Appearing before the Kerala High Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a halt on the investigation conducted by the Kerala Police against officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). In its FIR, the Kerala Crime Branch accused officials of the ED of coercing gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna Suresh into implicating the Chief Minister, Ministers and other high ranking members of the State Government.
ED Deputy Director of Kochi Zone P Radhakrishnan moved the High Court last week, contending that the FIR was lodged by the Kerala Police with the aim of 'derailing' its investigation of the gold smuggling and other cases.
The Solicitor General further said,
He had submitted that Section 195(1)(b)(i) of the Code of Criminal Procedure barred taking cognizance of offences connected with and in relation to court proceedings except on a complaint made on behalf of the concerned court.
"Therefore, we argue that cognizance could not have been taken on this FIR as the matter relates to an offence connected to and in relation to a court proceeding", he submitted.
On this count, ASG Raju pointed out that Section 195A of the Code of Criminal Procedure used the term complaint as opposed to FIR when prescribing a procedure to institute proceedings for Section 195A IPC offences.
Yesterday, the Kerala Crime Branch filed a counter affidavit in the case before the High Court. In its counter, the Kerala Government charges the ED that it had ulterior motives in filing the writ petition and publishing statements made by the various accused during the course of its investigation into the gold smuggling scam and its various manifestations
The petition was filed by P Radhakrishnan, Deputy Director of ED Kochi Zone seeking to quash the FIR registered by Kerala Police Crime Branch against "unnamed ED officials" for offences under Sections 116, 120B, 167, 192, 193 and 195A of the Indian Penal Code.
In its FIR, the Crime Branch accused officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of coercing gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh into implicating the Chief Minister and other 'influential' government officials in the gold smuggling case and connected cases.