SC pulls up centre on Hasan Ali case

The Supreme Court today pulled up the central government for keeping it in the dark about the chargesheet against alleged tax evader Hasan Ali Khan and Kolkata based-businessman Kashinath Tapuria, accused of laundering money in LGT bank in Europe.

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the central government for keeping it in the dark about the chargesheet against alleged tax evader Hasan Ali Khan and Kolkata based-businessman Kashinath Tapuria, accused of laundering money in LGT bank in Europe.

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An apex court bench of justice B Sudarshan Reddy and justice SS Nijjar told Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium that the status report submitted to the court by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not say that investigation into the matter was over and the chargesheet would be filed a day later.

The status report was filed by the ED May 4 and the 900-page chargesheet was filed in the court of special judge in Mumbai May 6.

Justice Reddy said "it is obvious that you had the chargesheet on May 4 and chose not to inform us".

The court also slammed the ED for not placing the chargesheet before the multi-disciplinary high-level committee for scrutiny.

The court said that any further action by the Mumbai special court on the chargesheet would be subject to the directions of the apex court.