SC grants bail to ED officer arrested by Tamil Nadu police

The SC bench directed Tiwari not to leave Tamil Nadu and desist from contacting any witnesses in the case while placing a set of restrictions on the grant of bail

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Ankit Tiwari, who was arrested in December last year by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on charges of bribery.

ED officer Ankit Tiwari was arrested in December last year by the Tamil Nadu DVAC on charges of bribery. (ANI)

A bench of justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan directed Tiwari not to leave Tamil Nadu and desist from contacting any witness in the case while placing a set of restrictions on the grant of bail.

Last week, the Madras high court denied Tiwari’s plea for grant of statutory bail as the prosecution failed to submit the charge sheet against him within 60 days. The prosecution, however, told the high court that although the charge sheet was ready, it could not be filed in the trial court only because the Supreme Court had stayed further proceedings against Tiwari by an order on January 25. Noting the rival contentions, the high court asked Tiwari to work out his remedy before the Supreme Court.

Tiwari was arrested by DVAC in December last year after he allegedly accepted a payment of ₹20 lakh to sway an investigation against a government employee. This case acted as a trigger for ED to approach the top court to allege that DVAC was using the case to conduct a roving enquiry by conducting search and seizure in the ED office in a bid to recover material related to sensitive cases being probed against sitting ministers in the state.

ED’s petition alleged that the state had not cooperated in sharing criminal complaints and first information reports regarding money laundering crimes under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency asked that the CBI take over the investigation into Tiwari’s case.

While hearing ED’s petition, the apex court has on earlier occasions suggested that a pan-India mechanism with “best practices” be evolved to ensure that a political standoff between state governments and ED do not impede the conduct of “free and independent” criminal investigations into money laundering and corruption cases. It has sought responses from the Centre and the state government on this matter, and the case will come up after two weeks.