Hasan Ali approaches SC, fails to get relief

New Delhi, Mar 31: Pune-based stud-farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, accused of money-laundering and stashing away huge amounts in foreign banks, today approached the Supreme Court challenging a lower court's order allowing the ED to interrogate him in its office while being in judicial custody.

An apex court bench, however, refused to entertain Khan's plea saying he has not filed any application or petition before it against the lower court order and it cannot pass any order on the basis of oral submission.

Advocate Santosh Paul, appearing for Khan, orally brought matter to the notice of a bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar, that the order passed by the lower court is illegal and it should be stayed.

A Mumbai sessions court had yesterday allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take Khan, now lodged in Arthur Road jail under judicial custody, to take him to its office in south Mumbai every day between 10.30 am to 5.30 pm till April 1 for interrogation.

On March 25, the sessions court had remanded Ali to judicial custody till April 8. Ali was arrested in the first week of March.

The apex court had earlier refused to interfere with its order cancelling the bail granted Khan.

It turned down the plea to reconsider the March 17 order of the vacation bench which had cited "extraordinary circumstances" of the case in staying the order of Mumbai Principal Sessions Judge M L Tahaliyani on March 11 granting bail to the 53-year-old stud farm owner.

It, however, allowed Khan to move an application seeking bail before the Special judge in Mumbai which will deal with it without being influenced by the order and observations of the apex court.

Khan is also facing a Rs 70,000 crore tax demand notice from the Income-Tax Department as well as the ED probe.

The ED arrested Khan on March 7 after being pulled up by the Supreme Court for its failure to ensure his custodial interrogation. But the trial court had let him off.

PTI