SC seeks Centre, ED's response on Bhupesh Baghel's son plea against arrest

New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Centre and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel's son challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and his arrest by the probe agency in the alleged liquor scam in the state.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre and the ED, to file the response to the plea in 10 days.

"More than grounds of arrest, it’s about interpretation of law…How long can you keep the accused in custody," Justice Bagchi asked Raju.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chaitanya Baghel, who was arrested by the ED on July 18, said the agency arrested his client on the grounds that he was not cooperating in the investigation.

"They have arrested me on the grounds of non-cooperation. But they never sent me a notice. They never summoned me. That's the challenge to the arrest. They never called me and arrested me under section 19 of the PMLA, which they can't do," Sibal said.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, also appearing for Baghel, said that the investigation in the case does not seem to end at all, and they have sought quashing of the grounds of arrest before the high court.

Justice Kant, after perusing the case file, told Sibal that non-cooperation in the investigation is not the only ground for Baghel’s arrest.

Sibal said all others are allegations, and the agency never filed any complaint or sought permission from the court.

"They delay the trial and keep me in custody. Each conclusion of the high court is in my favour," Sibal submitted.

Raju submitted that this court has granted three months time to the probe agency to complete the investigation, and the ED is trying to do so.

On August 4, the top court censured the practice of affluent persons coming to it directly seeking relief in criminal cases, as it asked former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and his son to go to the high court in cases probed by central investigating agencies.

Investigation agencies, including the CBI and ED, are probing several cases related to the Mahadev betting app and rice mills and alleged coal, liquor and DMF scams, which allegedly happened during the tenure of Bhupesh Baghel as the chief minister. PTI MNL AMJ AMJ