Canara Bank fraud case: HC dismisses Naresh Goyal’s plea against 'illegal arrest'

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court dismissed Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal’s plea challenging his ‘illegal arrest’ by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 538-crore Canara Bank loan fraud case, here on Tuesday.

A division bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Gauri V. Godse said that the “petition cannot be entertained and is dismissed”, while allowing Goyal liberty to avail other statutory remedies.

Arrested by the ED on September 1, Goyal, 74, had contended that his arrest was ‘illegal’ and sought the setting aside of the Special Court orders remanding him to ED custody and later in judicial custody.

Goyal, who had sought bail on medical grounds in September, claimed that the arrest violated his fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution, and sought directions to release him from the ‘abjectly unlawful and arbitrary custody and incarceration’.

Through his legal team of Senior Advocates Amet Desai, Aabad Ponda and lawyer Ameet Naik, he also sought quashing his arrest memo and arrest order along with the remand applications and orders by the Special Court on September 2 and then on September 11, and pending disposal, his temporary release from custody.

Strongly arguing on behalf of the ED, Special Public Prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar said that all the legal procedures were complied while arresting Goyal, and it was necessary to place him under arrest as he was very uncooperative, evasive and suspicious in his conduct and statements.

The ED also said that Goyal was a very influential and resourceful person and the agency needed his custody to identify the proceeds of the crime which was committed with ‘full pre-meditation’, plus there was a possibility he could tamper with the evidence or witnesses that could affect the ED probe.

Probing further, on November 1, the ED had slapped provisional attachment orders on Goyal’s properties worth Rs 538.05 crore and the ED told the Special Court that so far public funds of more than Rs 5,700-crore is revealed as the total proceeds of crime.

These included 17 residential assets, bungalows, commercial premises and assets belonging to Goyal’s wife Anita Goyal, son Nivaan at multiple locations in different states in India and abroad like London, Dubai, and in the names of various companies of the Jet Group owned by them.