ED CANNOT BE A SUPER COP : Supreme Court and High Court

By Joseph Maiakan
The Enforcement Directorate ( ED ) the long arm of the Modi government extensively deployed for
disciplining dissenting political opponents conducted 3010 raids between 2014 and 2022 ( Eight years ) ,
as against 112 raids carried out between 2004 and 2014 , ten years of the United Progressive Alliance (
UPA ) rule.
ED raids target financial crimes like money laundering , violation of foreign exchange regulations,
Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act ( FERA and FEMA ) and cases
involving fugitive economic offenders. The objective is to detect, investigate and prosecute individuals
and institutions involved in financial crimes and to recover the proceeds of crime.
And consequently , the ED has the power to conduct searches, seize assets , attach properties and make
arrests in connection with the offences they investigate. It could raid a business suspected of laundering
money through shell companies or a person suspected of violating FEMA by illegally transferring money
abroad.
Among the most famous people raided by the ED are Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, in the National
Herald ( newspaper ) case followed by Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of former Punjab Chief Minister
, in an illegal sand mining case. Honey was also arrested in the case. The ED siezed more than Rs. 10
crore , gold worth Rs.21 lakhs and Rolex watch worth Rs.12 laks from the residence of Honey.
Other prominent people raided were IAS officer Pooja Singhal , an aide of the Jharkhand Chief Minister
Hemant Soren , Partha Chatterjee former West Bengal Education Minister and his aide Aprita
Mukherjee. The Minister was also arrested following the ‘ recovery ‘ of Rs.21 crore in cash from the
residence of Arpita Mukherjee.
Arm Admi Party lader and Delhi’s Health Minister Satyender Jain was arrested by the ED in May 2018
under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA ) after the CBI registered an FIR
against him in a disproportionate asset caseon 24 August 2017.
Other prominent people arrested by the ED are Karti Chidambaram Congress Member of Parliament and
son of former Home Minister P. Chitambaram in the Chinese Visa case, Shiv Sena M.P. Sanjay Raut ,
Sanjay Chhbria and Avinash Bhosale in the Yes Bank – DHFL case , Maharashtra Minister and prominent
Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik for his alleged link with fugitive gangster leader Dawood
Ibrahim’s D-Company . The ED also arrested former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejeriwal and Deputy
Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the alleged liquor scam while in office . It also arrested K. Kavitha
daughter of former Chief Minister of Telengana K. Chandrashekhar Rao in the scam.
The ED also filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmer
Farooq Abdullah in connection with the Jammu and Kashmer Cricket Association ( JKCA ) fund scam !

Besides these the ED in February 2024 attached Rs.1.17 crore of, Wahington Post Columnist Rana Ayyub
in a money laundering case . The ED charged her of misusing donations for personal expenses.
The ED’s unbriddled more than a decade old run came to an abrupt halt on 21 July 2025 , when a
Supreme Court bench comprising the Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran
asked The ED why it was being used for ” political battles ” and dismissed ED’s appeal against the
Karnataka High Court quashing the summons against Karnataka Chief Minister Sitaramaiah’s wife B. M.
Parwati and State Minister Byrathi Suresh. The summons was issued in connection with the alleged
illegal allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority ( MUDA ).
While hearing matter the Chief Justice of India B. R.Gavai told the Additional Solicitor General ( ASG ) S.
V. Raju ” Mr. Raju , please don’t ask us to open our mouths. Otherwise , we will be forced to make some
haarsh coments about the ED. Unfortunately , I have some experience in Maharashtra. You do not
perpetuate this violence across the country now. Let the political battles be fought before the
electorate. Why are you being used as a tool ? “
Meanwhile, in a severe indictment of the ED, the Madras High Court in a separate case has said that the
ED can take action only upon the existence of a predicate offence and it cannot conduct investigations
on its own.
A bench of the Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Laxminarayanan observed that the ED cannot act like a
super cop and investigate anything and everything that came to its notice. There should be a ” criminal
activity ” which attracts schedule of the PMLA , and on account of such criminal activity there should
have been ” proceeds of crime ” .It is only then the jurisdiction of ED commences the court said.
There must be criminal activity coming within the schedule of the Act alongwith the presence of the
proceeds of the crime then only the ED will have jurisdiction to start a probe. If the agency was allowed
to conduct an investigation merely on coming to know about any activity , the ED would be conducting
roving enquiry the court added.
“‘ The essential ingredient for the ED to seize jurisdiction is the presence of a predicate offence. It is like
a limpet mine attached to a ship. If there is no ship , the limpet cannot work. The ship is the predicate
offence and ” proceeds of crime ” . The ED is not a loitering munition or drone to attack at will on any
criminal activity, ” the court pointed out.
The court further explained that as per Section 66 ( 2 ) of the PMLA, if the ED comes across a violation of
law during the course of an investigation , it cannot assume the role of an investigating agency and
investigate those offences also.
In this context, it is pertinent to mention a remark made by Justice Ramesh in June 2025 that the courts
often term the PMLA 2002 as an ” evolving legislation ” which throws up new legal questions , but it is
actually the ” officials of the ED who are evolving day by day by EXPANDING their POWERS ! “