The Supreme Court on Monday refused to question the choice of people arrested during investigation into financial fraud allegations against the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) and promoter Anil Ambani, allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directorate of Enforcement to steer the probe.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant exercised restraint even as the petitioner side highlighted that the investigation had so far only seen the arrests of “low-level” officers. Appearing for the petitioner, E.A.S Sarma, advocate Prashant Bhushan continued to term Ambani as “the kingpin”. The senior lawyer said he was not rooting for Mr. Ambani’s arrest, but the probe agencies should at least disclose “what they have found about the role played by him”.
Bhushan said the allegations involved losses to the tune of over ₹20,000 crore to public sector banks. “This is not a small amount,” he said.
But Chief Justice Kant said any comment made by the Supreme Court during an ongoing investigation, even though unintentional, would impact the trial.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the investigative agencies, said three chargesheets have already been filed in seven cases. The rest were under investigation. Status reports to be filed in the apex court were ready. The ED had separately filed four prosecution complaints.
