Nothing heroic is about the zeal shown by the ED to interrogate a person like former Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar for nearly 15 hours straight on a charge of illegal mining in purported contravention of the money laundering laws,” the Punjab and Haryana High Court had said.
A Bench of Justices A.S. Oka and A.G. Masih said the incident revealed a “shocking state of affairs”. It refused to interfere with the High Court finding in September 2024 that Mr Panwar’s arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was illegal.
The High Court had recorded a prima facie opinion that Mr Panwar was not “found involved in any illegal activity, in any manner whatsoever, attracting the offence of money laundering under the PMLA”. The High Court had also noted that illegal mining was not a scheduled offence under the PMLA.
The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision to dismiss the ED’s appeal on the illegal arrest issue. Meanwhile, the High Court’s determination was limited in scope to apply only to issues regarding the legitimacy of the arrest and would, therefore, leave intact the very merits of the ED’s complaint currently pending under PMLA while not affecting any jurisdiction of a Special Court entrusted with the same case.
During the December 2 Court hearing, the apex court referred to how the former lawmaker was “constantly interrogated” at the zonal office of the ED at Gurugram on July 19, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 1.40 a.m. the next day, a total of 14 hours and 40 minutes.
The top court described the conduct of the ED as inhuman while pointing out that Mr Panwar was suspected to be a “beneficiary of a syndicate running illegal mining” and not a terror accused.
