Mumbai: The Bombay High Court directed Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal on Friday to ensure that his habeas corpus (produce the person in court) petition challenging his alleged illegal arrest and detention is properly affirmed within a day.
Goyal, 74, had approached the HC challenging his arrest and his remand, terming it as 'unwarranted, arbitrary, and illegal.'
A division bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere issued the direction after the advocate for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) objected to the plea not being verified properly by Goyal or his next of kin.
Goyal's counsel requests court to permit amendment
The bench then stated that Goyal could either withdraw the petition or the court would pass an order.
Goyal's counsel, Amit Desai, requested the court to permit the amendment of the petition forthwith so that Goyal’s kin can verify and sign it.
The court permitted Desai to amend the petition by Saturday and scheduled the hearing for Thursday.
The ED arrested him on September 1 in an alleged money laundering case related to a Rs538 crore fraud with Canara Bank.
The HC was hearing Goyal’s plea, which claimed that the arrest violated his fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Goyal had approached the high court on September 14, a day after the special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act remanded him to judicial custody till September 29.
The CBI registered an FIR on May 3 following a complaint by Canara Bank alleging offenses of cheating, conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust by Jet Airways (India) and Goyal in connivance with other accused to siphon off bank funds to the tune of Rs538 crores.
The ED registered its case based on the CBI FIR. The ED case involves a large number of banking transactions with high-value cash withdrawals from funds related to loans obtained by the accused.
