Grounds for arrest: ED must give in writing to accused: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed the Centre's petition seeking review of its verdict which said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is required to furnish the grounds of arrest to an accused in writing "without exception", saying there was no error in its judgement warranting reconsideration. A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar considered the review petition in chambers and passed the order.

"We have carefully gone through the review petitions and the connected papers. We do not find any error, much less apparent, in the order impugned, warranting its reconsideration. The review petitions are dismissed accordingly. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of," the bench said. In its order passed on March 20, the bench also dismissed the Centre's application for an open court hearing.

The Centre had sought a review of the October 3 order of the apex court by which it had set aside the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as well as the arrest memos, while directing the release of Basant Bansal and Pankaj Bansal, directors of Gurugram-based realty group M3M, in a money laundering case. The top court had come down heavily on the ED and said it is not expected to be "vindictive" in its conduct and must act with utmost probity and fairness.