On Friday, a Court in Delhi pulled up the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for asking personal questions to the doctors of Supertech chairman RK Arora, who had moved a bail application on health grounds in a money laundering case, & said that the federal agency must show “high degree of professional standard” & respect medical professionals.
The court was hearing an application moved by Arora seeking extension of interim bail by a further period of 90 days on medical & health grounds. His counsel Tanveer Ahmad Mir complained that the treating doctors were grilled by the officers of the agency for seven hours to harass them & dissuade them from performing their duties.
After going through the questionnaire of a doctor, the judge noted that certain personal questions put to the treating doctors by ED seemed to have no concern with the verification of Arora’s medical treatment record.
The court observed that the questions regarding personal information of the doctors & their family members are unwarranted because they cannot have any concern with the medical treatment records of the accused in question.
“The Enforcement Directorate is a premier investigating agency constituted with a laudable object to deal with cases of money laundering, therefore, it is expected to show high degree of professional standard”, additional sessions judge (ASJ) Devender Kumar Jangala said in his order.
The court added it expects the agency to treat medical professionals with respect. “The treating doctors are medical professionals. Therefore, they are required to be treated with utmost regard & in a professional manner,” ASJ Jangala said.
The judge asked ED’s special counsel to suitably advise the agency sleuths. “Special counsel for Enforcement Directorate is requested to advise its investigating officers to refrain from seeking personal information of treating doctors or medical professionals at the time of verification of medical/treatment record, except when necessary,” said the court.
Arora sought extension of the interim bail due to continued precarious condition of his cervical & lumbar ailment. He also pointed out he must undergo major spine surgery & would require time to recover. He was earlier granted 30 days interim bail on January 16.
The court extended Arora’s interim bail by 30 days, noting that Arora’s surgery could not be conducted as pre-anesthesia clearance was not given by the doctor due to his medical conditions.
It also observed that the apprehensions raised by ED, that granting interim bail extension shall amount to granting opportunity to Arora to tamper with evidence & raise threats to homebuyers is “baseless” as there has been no proof for any instance of misuse of interim bail.
“In the absence of any proof of misuse of interim bail by the applicant/accused, the contention raised on behalf of Enforcement Directorate is baseless. The medical report/diagnostic report & continued medical treatment record from the date of release of interim medical bail till filing of present application are also sufficient to rebut the contentions of misuse raised by special counsel for ED”, the court added
Arora is currently being investigated by the federal investigating agency in a probe based on FIRs filed by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi, Haryana, & UP Police for allegedly cheating homebuyers & banks.
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