DVAC raid of ED Madurai office ‘illegal, mala fide’; agency writes to TN DGP seeking FIR
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Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday lodged a complaint with the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, Shankar Jiwal, seeking registration of an FIR against the state’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department (DVAC) for conducting an ‘illegal search’ in its Madurai Sub-Zonal office and alleged that unauthorised persons entered the office premises and sensitive case records were stolen.
The complaint, filed by Brijesh Beniwal, Assistant Director of the ED in Madurai, outlines multiple allegations against the DVAC and “unknown” persons involved in the raid.
The raid at the ED office was carried out after the arrest of ED officer, Ankit Tiwari, who works as an enforcement officer with the Madurai sub-zone of the central agency, by DVAC in Dindigul for accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakhs from a government doctor.
On Friday, Tamil Nadu Police had arrested Tiwari after an eight-kilometre chase on the Dindigul-Madurai highway. Officers of the state’s DVAC had also raided Tiwari’s residence along with the ED’s Madurai office.
The ED in its plaint alleged its entire office was ‘ransacked.’ Even case files that had no relation to Tiwari’s case were opened and sensitive case records and internal documents of the ED were accessed, the complaint alleged.
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Beniwal’s complaint begins with an alleged account of the raid: “On December 1, around 1.15 pm, two persons suspiciously came to ED Madurai Office, claiming to be IB Officers.” It alleges that around 35 people, including those in civilian clothes claiming to be police officers, “forcefully entered the ED office, Madurai”.
“No search warrant whatsoever was shown,” Beniwal wrote. “The search was conducted in an unprofessional and illegal manner.” The raiding team failed to produce ID cards or search warrant documents, the complaint alleged, adding: “Various sensitive case records (and) files related to matters other than the case basis were verified by them”.
“Their identity is not known. Whether they are police or private parties, even that is not known. Whether anyone has a vested interest in any ED case is also not known. How many records were stolen as of now is also not ascertainable. We are in the process of ascertaining the same…we have a video recording which shows the presence of such 35 persons. There are many cases that require the protection of witnesses since the ED is investigating “into many powerful persons in the state”, the complaint said.
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Beniwal alleged the DVAC search was ‘illegal’ and ‘mala fide.’ Hence, an FIR should be registered against DVAC officials for ‘illegal’ search and for “…permitting such unauthorised, unknown persons to enter the office of ED, allowing them to see, take copies and take away confidential and sensitive ED records pertaining to ongoing investigations into several sensitive cases,” it further said.
Tiwari’s room was searched and documents such as ECIR were seized by the DVAC team. “They were constantly saying that they are having pressure from seniors to do these acts”, the complaint said.
The ED demanded the slapping of several IPC sections, including criminal trespass and criminal intimidation. The agency also alleged that various sensitive case records were stolen, illegally accessed and copies were made using mobile phones that could jeopardise the probe.
The ED sought the registration of an FIR against DVAC officials and all persons who entered its office unauthorisedly with alleged offences including criminal trespass, intimidation, illegal access to sensitive records, and theft of documents.
Tamil Nadu police are yet to respond to the ED’s complaint.
With PTI inputs
