Apr.03, 2010, 03:09 hrs, Source: Press Trust of India

The Allahabad High Court held on Friday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) could launch an investigation into a criminal case filed against former Samajwadi Party secretary general Amar Singh, whenever the agency felt the same was required.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Vinod Prasad and Rajesh Chandra observed this after hearing a writ petition of Kanpur resident Shivkant Tripathi, who had last year lodged an FIR against Singh at the city’s Babupurwa police station.

The complainant had accused Singh of financial irregularities in his capacity as the chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Development Council, while Samajwadi Party was in power in the state. Singh, however, has denied the charges.

Tripathi had moved court with a plea that directions be issued to the ED to take up the investigation, which was at present being conducted by the Uttar Pradesh government’s Economic Offences Wing.

Though the court refrained from issuing such a direction, it said that the ED “could investigate the matter whenever it thought there was such a requirement”.

On December 5 last year, while staying Singh’s arrest in connection with the FIR, the court had made it clear that the Rajya Sabha MP should not be arrested on charges levelled under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

But the state government was “free to approach the Central government for getting the charges levelled under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act investigated by an appropriate agency, which may take appropriate action in the course of the trial,” it had said.

The court will hear the case next on May 10. It has asked the state government to submit its progress report regarding investigation into the FIR.