HC seeks ED response on Talwar’s petition

NEW DELHI : The Delhi high court on Tuesday sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by Deepak Talwar, who challenged his detention after being brought to India from the UAE last week in connection with a money-laundering case.

A bench of justice Siddharth Mridul and justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice to Enforcement Directorate (ED) and fixed February 12 as the next date of hearing.

In his plea, Talwar contended that his arrest and custody by ED were “illegal” and that he should be freed.

“He has been illegally picked up from a foreign country and brought to India without any extradition proceedings despite the fact that there exists an extradition treaty between India and the said foreign country, i.e. UAE,” the plea said. Appearing for Talwar, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that his client was picked from Dubai and handed over to India even when there were summons to him for February 4. He said that Talwar was not given a chance to comply with the summons.

The ED brought Talwar to India on January 30 on allegations that he acted as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines causing loss to national carrier Air India. He is accused of criminal conspiracy, forgery and under the FCRA for allegedly diverting ~ 90.72 crore of foreign funds received by his NGO from a missile company.