New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for filing a chargesheet against Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan in a case of alleged money-laundering without informing the high-level committee formed by the government to monitor the probe.
The apex court also asked the special court in Mumbai to keep the Enforcement Directorate's chargesheet on hold till it issues further orders.
Khan, 53, is alleged to have 8 billion dollars in black money in foreign bank accounts. He has been asked to pay Rs 70,000 crore as a penalty for tax evasion, but his lawyer claims that he is innocent of all the charges against him.
Khan was arrested in Mumbai on March 7 after several hours of grilling in the wake of the Supreme Court's criticism of the government over its inaction against the black money hoarders, particularly him.
The apex court today was also anguished that during the last hearing on May 4 when the Enforcement Directorate placed its status report on the investigation in the black money case involving Khan and others, it did not make a mention of the chargesheet to be filed on May 6 before the special court.
"You (ED) filed the chargesheet without placing it before the committee you have constituted and we are
surprised," a bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said.
"We heard the matter on May 4 but there was no mention in the status report that chargesheet was ready to be filed which was filed on May 6. You did not mention this in the status report. There was no mention of the charge sheet. Why it was not mentioned that the chargesheet is to be filed?," the bench asked.
The bench also queried, "Why it was not mentioned that the investigation is complete and the chargesheet will be filed? Two days later we read in newspapers that the chargesheet has been filed."
It said that the status report filed on May 4 had stated that the investigation was still going on. The bench said it was "surprising" that the chargesheet was not placed before the 10-member high-level committee headed by the Revenue Secretary. (With PTI Inputs)