The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on December 3 petitioned Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal, accusing the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) of conducting an “illegal search operation” by barging into its Madurai Zonal Office on December 1, 2023, and “stealing sensitive case documents”.
The searches were carried out following the arrest of Enforcement Officer Ankit Tiwari on charges of demanding and accepting bribe from a government doctor, who is facing a disproportionate assets case.
The Central agency sought registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the DVAC team on charges of conducting the illegal search, allowing unauthorised persons into the ED’s offices, and taking away confidential records pertaining to ongoing investigations into several sensitive cases.
In the complaint, Brijesh Beniwal, Assistant Director, Madurai Sub-Zonal Office of the ED, said that on the day of the searches, two persons came to the ED’s office claiming to be officers of the Intelligence Bureau. When asked to show their identity cards, the duo went away. Later, about 35 persons, including many in civil dress claiming to be officials from the DVAC, forcefully entered the office. They refused to show their identity cards and “had no search warrant”.
In the garb of a search, the complainant alleged, the 35 persons entered the room of Mr. Tiwari, and opened case files that were not relevant to the case for which they claimed to have come. They accessed sensitive case records, information and internal documents of the ED related to other cases.
‘Office ransacked’
The search team locked the door of Mr. Tiwari’s cabin intermittently, thereby having access to records in private. They were continuously speaking with various persons, giving information about various records, and taking instructions, it has been alleged.
“They were constantly saying that they are under pressure from seniors to do these acts. When panchnama (record of events in the presence of witnesses) was drawn, we were shocked to see that there were only four persons authorised for the search. Thus, there was no mention of these 35 persons who were present. Their identity is not known. Whether they are police or private parties — even that is not known,” Mr. Beniwal said.
ED officials were not aware of the documents taken away by the search team. There were many cases which required protection of witnesses since the ED was looking into many powerful persons in the State. The 35 persons present during the search had not disclosed their identity. “These 35 persons have not offered and allowed their search either at the time of entry or exit. We have video recording which shows the presence of such 35 persons,” Mr. Beniwal said.
Mr. Beniwal said the ED officials signed the panchnama after registering their protest. It was only after preparing the panchnama that the authorisation for the search was shown. The alleged search conducted by the DVAC was not only illegal, but mala fide, he said, urging the DGP to register an FIR against the accused persons on charges of criminal intimidation, criminal trespass, stealing sensitive documents, and taking copies of case records on mobile phones/other electronic media.
