Supreme Court seeks ED response to 64-year-old's plea against arrest during odd hours

The Supreme Court recently sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to a plea by a businessman challenging his arrest by the central agency during odd hours after questioning which lasted through the night [Ram Kotumal Issrani v. Enforcement Directorate & Anr].A Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra also gave the petitioner the liberty to move the vacation benches for bail."Issue notice, returnable in three weeks. Dasti notice on the Standing Counsel through the Central Agency Section, in addition," the order stated..The Court was hearing a petition filed by a 64-year-old businessman, Ram Issrani, who accused the ED of illegally arresting him in an alleged bank fraud case.He claimed that on August 7 and 8 last year, he was made to wait in the office of the ED, after which his statement was recorded from 10:30 PM to 3:00 AM. He submitted that he was kept awake for a total of 20 hours and was shown to be arrested at 5:30 AM on August 8.The Bombay High Court refused to quash the arrest and remand, leading to the instant appeal.Thought the High Court refused to quash the arrest, it had taken exception to the central agency recording statements of witnesses and accused at unearthly hours, given that it resulted in deprivation of a person’s sleep. It had directed the ED to issue a circular or directions regarding timings for recording statements when summons are issued for interrogation.It had reiterated that an investigation by ED officers stood on a different footing from an investigation under the Code of Criminal Procedure, as it was deemed to be a judicial proceeding.Before the Supreme Court, it was pointed out that the petitioner was not immediately produced before a Magistrate upon arrest..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal with Advocates Vijay Agarwal, Mahesh Agarwal, Ankur Saigal, Kajal Dalal, and EC Agrawala appeared for the businessman before the apex court..[Read order]