SC restrains ED from probe into Chhattisgarh liquor scam

In a setback to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained the federal agency from investigating further or taking any coercive measures in connection with an alleged liquor syndicate scam in Chhattisgarh, noting that the agency has so far been acting without any court having taken cognisance of a predicate offence under the money laundering law. A predicate offence is the foundational criminal offence that generates illegal proceeds of crime, leading to a separate probe by ED.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI: The Chhattisgarh government, which is also an applicant before the court in the case, has maintained that ED has been conducting the probe without any jurisdiction and with the sole objective of implicating chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.

"Certainly, you cannot act on it until a court takes note of a predicate offence... Concerned authorities must stay their hands in all respect... there is nothing earthshattering that's going to happen," directed a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, as it heard a batch of matters relating to the liquor syndicate case.