The Jharkhand High Court on Monday extended the stay on police investigation and any coercive action against Enforcement Directorate officials, listing the matter for hearing on February 17. The court upheld its earlier interim order and said the issue of maintainability of the petition would be examined during the next hearing. It had earlier directed the Centre to provide adequate security to the Ranchi ED office and ensure preservation of CCTV footage.
The case arises out of an FIR lodged at the Airport police station, in which ED officials were named following a complaint by Santosh Kumar. Santosh Kumar is an accused in an alleged 23 crore rupees drinking water scam, in which the ED has already registered an ECIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED has sought quashing of the FIR and criminal proceedings or, alternatively, transfer of the probe to an independent agency such as the CBI.
