Judiciary, probe agencies should act independently: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Thursday said the judiciary and agencies like the RBI CBI and ED should act independently and asked what heavens are going to fall if an interim protection from coercive action is granted for a few days to NCP leader Eknath Khadse in an alleged land grab case of 2016A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale was hearing a petition filed by Mr Khadse seeking to quash the Enforcement Case Information Report ECIR registered by the Enforcement Directorate ED in October last yearMr Khadses counsel Aabad Ponda sought the court to grant the former state revenue minister interim protection from any coercive action pending hearing of the pleaThe EDs counsel Anil Singh told the court that the agency would not take any action till Monday January 25The bench while posting the petition for hearing on Monday however sought to know why the ED was insisting on protection to be granted only till MondayWhat heavens are going to fall if the petitioner is given protection for few more days We are always of the belief that the judiciary and agencies like the RBI CBI ED and so on should act independently and impartially Justice Shinde saidThere is a threat to the very democracy if these agencies do not act independently the court addedMr Khadse 68 who quit the BJP and joined the NCP In October 2020 appeared before the ED in Mumbai on January 15 this year to record his statement in the alleged land grab case pursuant to summons issued against himThe bench further noted that the petitioner was cooperating with the probe and has also appeared before the agency for questioningIf somebody is ready to cooperate and honour summons then we ask ourselves what is the need for arrest the court saidAt the end of the day he Khadse has cooperated and honoured the summons issuedhe has appeared for questioningWe can understand if someone is not cooperating Justice Shinde saidMr Khadse in his plea claimed the land in question was purchased by his wife and soninlaw from the owner legally and there was no illegality in the procedureIn reply to Mr Khadses petition the ED in its affidavit on Thursday said an initial investigation has clearly revealed various evidences showing money laundering in the caseThe ED claimed the ECIR was registered in October 2020 against Eknath Khadse his wife Mandakini Khadse and soninlaw Girish Choudhari in the alleged land grab case in Pune causing a loss of 62 crore to the public exchequerAccording to the agency the land was purchased at a low rate of 375 crore with a criminal intent to later seek compensation from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC which was to acquire the land in futureIt alleged that Mr Khadse misused his official position as state revenue minister in 2016The petitioner Khadse using his official position and government machinery manipulated the actual market price which was more than 31 crore at that time the affidavit saidIt said the petition seeking to quash the ECIR was premature and hence should be dismissedMr Khadse in his petition claimed that an FIR was lodged in the same case in 2017 but the police later filed a closure report before a court in PuneThe ED in its affidavit said the court has till date not accepted the closure report and hence the FIR is not closedThe agency also said it was probing the money laundering angle in the caseThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever