The Jharkhand High Court, while hearing the dispute between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Ranchi Police, has upheld the stay on police entry and investigation inside the ED office. A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, considering the seriousness of the matter, continued the stay on any coercive action by Ranchi Police and fixed the next hearing for February 24. The case is linked to an alleged irregularity in the Drinking Water Department, in which Santosh Kumar filed an FIR at Airport Police Station, accusing ED officials of assault after questioning.

Challenging the state police’s action, the ED has filed a criminal writ petition in the High Court seeking a CBI investigation and has also raised the issue of deploying BSF or CISF for security. During the hearing, the court directed the state government to file its reply within seven days and private respondent Santosh Kumar within ten days, while maintaining the interim stay on the investigation.