VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Nov 25: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a special leave petition of Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal who is under custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the cash for PIL case.
He had filed the petition to get relief in cash for the PIL and the matter was heard by a division bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The court declined to intervene as the matter is pending before the Jharkhand High Court.
The SC said that since a similar matter of the petitioner is pending before the Jharkhand High Court and the hearing is scheduled on November 30, hence the high court should decide the matter first. Amit Agrawal had made the ED as a respondent of this case.
However, well-placed sources said that Amit Agrawal was adopting usual tactics to secure an ex-parte order from the court by not informing the ED through service of copy of the petition.
“As per the rule, the petitioner must serve a copy of the petition to the respondent. So, in this fresh SLP filed before the SC, the ED should have been served a copy. This is a serious matter,” sources said.
Amit Agrawal had filed a quashing petition before the Jharkhand High Court on the ground that he was the complainant against advocate Rajiv Kumar in the extortion case and Rajiv Kumar was arrested along with cash Rs 50 Lakh following his complaint and a trap laid by the Kolkata police. But the ED made him an accused. At Jharkhand High Court, the ED sought three weeks of time to file the reply and the matter was scheduled for hearing on November 30.
“We could not get instant relief from the High court and the matter was deferred for a longer period. In the meantime, Rajiv Kumar got bail but Amit Agrawal is suffering. in order to get instant relief he was approached by the Supreme Court,” said a person acquainted with the case.
