In a blow to the Jharkhand government, the Supreme Court declined to halt the transfer of an FIR against Enforcement Directorate officials in Ranchi to the CBI, as directed by the Jharkhand High Court. The state’s plea challenging the High Court’s decision was dismissed by a bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh. Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, representing the state, had sought a stay on the probe, but the apex court rejected the request.
With the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay the investigation, the CBI will now proceed with its probe into the case. The controversy arose from a complaint by Santosh Kumar, an employee of Jharkhand’s Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, who alleged mistreatment by Enforcement Directorate officials during questioning at its Ranchi office on January 12. An FIR was subsequently filed against the ED officials at the Airport police station in Ranchi, leading to a series of events that escalated tensions between the state police and the central agency.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi of the Jharkhand High Court had earlier directed the transfer of the matter to the CBI for an impartial investigation, putting a stay on the state police inquiry and ordering the security of the ED office to be handled by paramilitary forces. Despite the Jharkhand government’s argument that the state police had the authority to investigate the case, the Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene paves the way for the CBI to carry on with its investigation.
