The Delhi High Court recently held that a court cannot issue non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against a person merely for non-compliance with summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). 

Justice Amit Sharma ruled that NBWs can only be issued by a court on the request of an investigating agency under Section 73 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)

As per the same, NBWs can be issued only against a person who is a convict or a proclaimed offender or a person who is accused of a non-bailable offence and is evading arrest.

“It is no doubt true that non-bailable warrants can be issued against the person who is evading investigation and who may not be formally arrayed as accused in the prosecution complaint, however, such persons must be projected as a person accused of committing non-bailable offence and evading arrest for the purpose of Section 73 of the CrPC,” the Bench said. 

It held that while the ED argued that under PMLA, a person can be summoned for investigation even if there is no form accusation against him, the same cannot override the essential requisites of Section 73 of CrPC. 

The Court made the observations while setting aside the non-bailable warrants issued against UK-based entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal in an ED money‑laundering investigation linked to the Videocon group and bank fraud case. 

ED issued multiple summons to Duggal from January 2022 under Section 50 PMLA.

An application for NBWs was moved before the PMLA Special Court in Mumbai and the same was rejected in February 2023 after recording ED’s own statement that Duggal was only a “witness” and suggesting recourse under section 174 IPC (non‑attendance to summons). 

The agency then moved the PMLA Special Court in Delhi seeking open‑ended NBWs “in aid of investigation”, explicitly terming Duggal a “suspect” whose non‑cooperation stalled the probe. The Court issued NBWs on February 10, 2023 and later refused to cancel them.

After considering the case, the High Court cancelled the NBWs, observing that the trial court had not exercised the powers as per the provisions of the CrPC. 

Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur with advocates Arshdeep Singh Khurana, Sulakshan S Vedartham, Khushboo Jain and Chetan Nagpal appeared for Sachin Dev Duggal. 

ED was represented by its Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Panel Counsel Vivek Gurnani and advocates Kartik Sabharwal, Pranjal Tripathi, Daanish Abbasi, Mahesh Gupta,  Navin Kumar and Ashish Kapoor.

[Read Judgment]