Judiciary, agencies like CBI, ED should act independently: HC

The Bombay High Court onThursday said the judiciary and agencies like the RBI, CBI andED should act independently, and asked ''what heavens are goingto fall'' if an interim protection from coercive action isgranted for a few days to NCP leader Eknath Khadse in analleged land grab case of 2016.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and ManishPitale was hearing a petition filed by Khadse, seeking toquash the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR)registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October lastyear.

Khadse's counsel Aabad Ponda sought the court to grantthe former state revenue minister interim protection from anycoercive action, pending hearing of the plea.

The ED's counsel, Anil Singh, told the court that theagency would not take any action till Monday (January 25).

The bench while posting the petition for hearing onMonday, however, sought to know why the ED was insisting onprotection to be granted only till Monday.

''What heavens are going to fall if the petitioner isgiven protection for few more days? We are always of thebelief that the judiciary and agencies like the RBI, CBI, EDand so on should act independently and impartially,'' JusticeShinde said.

''There is a threat to the very democracy if theseagencies do not act independently,'' the court added.

Khadse (68), who quit the BJP and joined the NCP InOctober 2020, appeared before the ED in Mumbai on January 15this year to record his statement in the alleged land grabcase, pursuant to summons issued against him.

The bench further noted that the petitioner wascooperating with the probe and has also appeared before theagency for questioning. ''If somebody is ready to cooperate and honour summonsthen we ask ourselves what is the need for arrest,'' the courtsaid.

''At the end of the day, he (Khadse) has cooperated andhonoured the summons issued...he has appeared for questioning.

We can understand if someone is not cooperating,'' JusticeShinde said.

Khadse in his plea claimed the land in question waspurchased by his wife and son-in-law from the owner legallyand there was no illegality in the procedure.

In reply to Khadse's petition, the ED in its affidaviton Thursday said an initial investigation has clearly revealedvarious evidences showing money laundering in the case.

The ED claimed the ECIR was registered in October2020 against Eknath Khadse, his wife Mandakini Khadse andson-in-law Girish Choudhari in the alleged land grab case inPune, causing a loss of Rs 62 crore to the public exchequer.

According to the agency, the land was purchased at alow rate of Rs 3.75 crore with a criminal intent to later seekcompensation from the Maharashtra Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (MIDC), which was to acquire the land in future.

It alleged that Khadse misused his official positionas state revenue minister in 2016.

''The petitioner (Khadse), using his official positionand government machinery, manipulated the actual market pricewhich was more than Rs 31 crore at that time,'' the affidavitsaid.

It said the petition seeking to quash the ECIR waspremature and hence, should be dismissed.

Khadse in his petition claimed that an FIR was lodgedin the same case in 2017, but the police later filed a closurereport before a court in Pune.

The ED in its affidavit said the court has till datenot accepted the closure report and hence, the FIR is notclosed.

The agency also said it was probing the moneylaundering angle in the case.