Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma stressed that the Court cannot throttle the investigation at the stage of issuance of summons and dismissed the plea as being premature.
The Delhi High Court upheld the Enforcement Directorate (ED) proceedings against businessman Amit Katyal, who is accused of engaging in business transactions with family members of former railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, in connection with the railway employment land scam. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, on Friday, refused to quash the ED summons, asserting that Katyal had been summoned to provide specific documents as part of the ongoing investigation.
The Court stressed that it is inappropriate to hinder the investigation during the summoning phase. The ongoing inquiry solely necessitates the petitioner’s appearance and the submission of specific documents. The investigation is not yet complete, and the petitioner had already participated in the investigation on six separate occasions between March and August 2023, in response to ED summonses. Therefore, the court found no valid reasons to nullify the challenged summons.
Justice Sharma pointed out inconsistencies in Katyal’s arguments. He claimed not to possess the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) and was uncertain of his status as an accused, yet he sought to have the ECIR related to him quashed. Consequently, the Court rejected Katyal’s pleas to annul the ED’s summons and to prevent the use of coercive measures.
The Court deemed the prayer for quashing the ECIR premature and without merit under the current circumstances. Katyal had appeared in court amid concerns of potential arrest, following ED searches at his associated locations. He highlighted his multiple appearances upon ED summons, cooperation with the investigation, and not being a suspect in the underlying offense.
The land for employment scam allegedly involves bribes for Group D jobs in the Indian Railways during Lalu Prasad Yadav’s tenure as Railways Minister. Katyal is accused of misconduct during his time as a director and principal shareholder of M/s AK Infosystem Pvt. Ltd. The company purportedly obtained land parcels from a relative of an Indian Railways Group D substitute candidate. AK Infosystem was transferred to Lalu Yadav’s family members in 2014 without any financial consideration.
The ED further alleged that criminal proceeds were used to acquire a property in New Friends Colony, New Delhi, in the name of M/s AB Exports Private Limited. Katyal, considered a close associate of Lalu Yadav, reportedly submitted an electricity connection application for the property to facilitate its use by Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family.
Amit Katyal was represented by a team of legal professionals, including Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, Bina Gupta, Gurpreet Singh, Bakul Jain, Sheena, Akasha Saini, Shiv Kumar Gupta, and Naman Agarwal. The ED was represented by Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain and attorneys Vivek Gurnani, Baibhav, Kartik Sabharwal, and Ankur Tiwari.
