Chandigarh, Sep 24 The Punjab government on Thursday withdrew its plea regarding the alleged illegal detention of senior GMADA officials by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), after a Punjab and Haryana High Court-appointed warrant officer submitted that the officials had told him that “they were not detained on the premises illegally”.
The government withdrew its habeas corpus petition after a search operation of the ED concluded and “the alleged detenues were set free”.
The government had moved the high court alleging that senior officials, including Vikas Garg, Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, and Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) Chief Administrator Sandeep Rishi, were confined at the GMADA headquarters in Mohali since September 22 during the ED operation.
The state had sought their immediate release and the appointment of a warrant officer to visit the GMADA office.
Acting on the plea late on Wednesday evening, the high court appointed Registrar (Admin-II) Rajan Nanda as a warrant officer, directed him to visit the GMADA headquarters at the PUDA Bhawan in Sector 62, Mohali, and submit a status report by 2 pm on Thursday.
The ED launched search-and-survey operations on Tuesday at the GMADA office in Mohali, Garg’s office and a Delhi-based realty company as part of a money-laundering investigation.
The search-and-survey operations concluded on Thursday afternoon.
According to the report submitted by the warrant officer on Thursday, he visited the GMADA office at around 2:50 am, accompanied by the state counsel and police officials.
He visited the rooms where the officials were sitting or sleeping and spoke to them in the presence of Additional Advocate General Ferry Sofat.
According to the report, the warrant officer spoke with IAS officer Rishi for about five-six minutes.
“All the officers informed me that they were not detained on the premises illegally, no undue pressure was put on them to sign any paper or concede anything and they were allowed to talk to their family members,” the warrant officer said in his report.
According to the report, Garg told the warrant officer that he was even allowed to visit his house for about two hours.
Estate Officer Aman Gupta was allowed to meet his brother, while Land Acquisition Collector Rohit Jindal was permitted to meet his family members, the report said.
The officials also told the warrant officer that their families and friends were allowed to bring food for them and that women staff members were permitted to leave the premises by 6-6:30 pm, according to the report.
The ED officials told the warrant officer that survey warrants were served on the officials and subsequently, search warrants were also served upon them.
The warrant officer was informed by the ED officials that the agency’s forensic team was downloading, copying and cloning documents and information from mobile phones, computers and other electronic equipment in the presence of the officials.
As the process takes some time, their personal presence was required for this purpose, the report said.
“The officers were informed by them that they can leave the premises for some time after authorising any other officer in whose presence the documents/information can be downloaded/cloned/copied, however, they have to sign that document, thereafter, treating it to have been downloaded/cloned/copied in their presence. Only due to this process, the officers are staying on the premises itself,” it added.
After considering the warrant officer’s report, Justice Sanjay Vashisth said, “Faced with the changed situation or circumstances and happening of subsequent events as the search is also over and the alleged detenues have already been set free, Vikram Chaudhary, senior advocate, assisted by Ferry Sofat, Additional Advocate General, Punjab, seeks withdrawal of the present petition, however, he prays for grant of liberty to avail the remedy by raising all the issues before an appropriate forum as per law.”
The court also fixed Rs 55,000 as the warrant officer’s fee and directed the state government to deposit the amount with the high court registry by September 28.
(PTI News)
