Special public prosecutors Atul Tripathi and Arun Khatri appeared for the ED. (File)
A Delhi court on Tuesday sent ex-promoter brothers of the Unitech realty group - Sanjay and Ajay Chandra - to custodial interrogation for a week in a money laundering case.
Special judge Dharmender Rana sent both the accused to ED custody till December 29 after they were produced before the court.
During the argument, the agency told the court that their custodial interrogation was needed in the case.
Special public prosecutors Atul Tripathi and Arun Khatri appeared for the ED.
The arrest came after the Supreme Court earlier this month allowed ED's plea for a fresh custodial interrogation of the duo saying it had obtained new evidence against them and it needs to confront them with those documents.
The agency informed the Supreme Court that the brothers were conducting business from the Tihar Jail premises in connivance with the prison staff when they were lodged there.
It said that its officials unearthed a "secret underground office" in the jail which was being operated by erstwhile Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra and visited by his sons Sanjay and Ajay when on parole or bail.
The top court, following this disclosure by the ED, asked authorities to shift the brothers in two separate prisons in Mumbai, Arthur Road Jail and Taloja Jail.
The ED, which has been investigating money laundering charges against the Chandras and their realty firm Unitech Ltd, said in its report that both Sanjay and Ajay have rendered the entire judicial custody meaningless as they have been freely communicating, instructing their officials and disposing of properties from inside the Tihar Jail in connivance with the prison staff.
The brothers are in jail since August, 2017 and are accused of allegedly siphoning home buyers' money.
The ED filed a criminal case under various sections of the PMLA early this year against the Unitech group and its promoters over allegations that the Chandra brothers illegally diverted over Rs 2,000 crore of depositors funds to Cyprus and the Cayman Islands.
In October, the ED had arrested Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra, Sanjay Chandra's wife Preeti Chandra and Rajesh Malik of the Carnoustie group.
It has attached properties worth more than Rs 690 crore in this case till now.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)