New Delhi: The Jharkhand High Court Friday asked the Ranchi police chief to ensure the security of the Enforcement Directorate’s zonal office in the city, a day after the office saw massive police deployment before the working hours. Police officers also “collected service details of two ED officers and CCTV footage” from the premises as part of a probe.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi also directed the Centre and the Union Home Secretary to depute either the Central Industrial Security Force, the Border Security Force, or personnel from other paramilitary forces suitable for securing the ED office in Ranchi.
He also directed the preservation of CCTV footage from the ED office.
“The S.S.P (Senior Superintendent of Police), Ranchi , is also directed to look into the security of the office of the Directorate of Enforcement, Ranchi. It is made clear that if any untoward incident occurred in the said (ED) office, the S.S.P, Ranch will be held liable for that,” Justice Dwivedi observed in the order.
He was hearing a plea by two ED officers seeking to quash an FIR lodged against them on a complaint by Santosh Kumar, a former cashier-cum-upper divisional clerk in Jharkhand’s Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, who is under probe for the alleged siphoning of Rs 3 crore.
The HC also stayed the proceedings in the FIR registered against the two ED officers.
“The High Courts are very slow in passing interim protection at the initial stage of the FIR, however, in the facts like present one brought before the High Court, the High Court cannot be a mute spectator, however, all these findings can be only given once the other sides are responded in the petition,” Justice Dwivedi said.
The federal probe agency has a zonal office in Ranchi, which was “encircled” by heavy police deployment Thursday, way before the official working hours. A few hours later, a team of the Ranchi district police entered the office, claiming they were there to probe a case against ED officials booked in an assault case.
Kumar was arrested by the police in April 2024 in connection with the alleged siphoning of nearly Rs 3 crore, which also forms the basis of the ED’s money-laundering investigation.
Representing the federal probe agency officials, Advocate Amit Kumar Das argued that the investigation and action by the Ranchi Police, prima facie, appeared to be a “pre-planned tactic” to “disrupt the investigation being made by the Directorate of Enforcement wherein high-profile persons of the state are involved and, as such, protection is needed by this Court.”
He argued before the High Court that a substantial police presence arrived at the office premises of the ED around 6 am on Thursday and tried to treat the agency’s office as a crime scene.
The High Court asked the state government to file a counter-affidavit within a week and listed the matter for further hearing on 9 February. The complainant in the FIR against the ED officers also sought 10 days’ time to file a counter affidavit, which was granted by the court.
BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly Babulal Marandi said the Enforcement Directorate office saw massive police deployment Thursday.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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