Chennai: A tit for tat game is on between the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Tamil Nadu Police over the latter’s recent action in arresting an Enforcement Officer Ankit Tiwari on bribery charge.
Tiwari was arrested in Madurai by the Tamil Nadu Police’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) earlier this month on a charge of demanding and receiving a bribe from a suspended State Government doctor who was facing a case in Dindigul district. The DVAC sleuths had then, in an unprecedented action, conducted searches in the office of the ED in Madurai.
ED urged DGP to file FIR against corrupt officer
The ED had later written to Tamil Nadu DGP alleging due procedure was not followed during the search and that the DVAC officers had taken away files unrelated to Tiwari’s case. The ED had urged the DGP to register a FIR against the officers and even sent a reminder for action.
Now curiously, the ED’s Special Task Force in New Delhi, has registered a case against Tiwari, who is in jail, and filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on the charge of bribery. This would pave the way to prosecute the arrested officer under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In the meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Police registered a case against certain officers of the ED for “preventing DVAC sleuths from discharging their duty.”
The case has been registered by the Madurai City Police on a complaint by a DVAC officer alleging that the ED officers in Madurai had prevented the sleuths from carrying out a search operation in connection with Tiwari’s arrest.
Consequent to the registration of the case, the Madurai Police also issued summons to the Assistant Director, ED, Madurai.
Inquiries revealed that the Tamil Nadu Police, however, have not taken cognisance of the complaint filed by the ED with the DGP seeking action against the DVAC officers.
