Plea for suspension of sentence: ED’s responsibility to give custody period details, says high court
The court has directed that in all the applications for suspension of sentence, it will be the responsibility of the Enforcement Directorate, wherever it is investigating agency, to supply details about the custody period suffered by convicted appellant by coordinating with the state agency.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to provide details of custody period wherever applications are filed by convicts for suspension of sentence.
“The prosecuting agency, which opposes an appeal or application for suspension of sentence, is supposed to provide all the details including details about the custody suffered whether it is during the under-trial period or post conviction,” the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel observed during the resumed hearing of an application filed for suspension of sentence by one Subhash Bajaj.
The Enforcement Directorate submitted its response to the petition filed on August 12, 2024 challenging a trial court’s order. However, it had maintained that the custody details are given by the state. The reply submitted in September 2024 did not contain details about the custody period.
The court directed that henceforth in all the applications for suspension of sentence, it would be the responsibility of the Enforcement Directorate, wherever it is investigating agency, to supply details about the custody period suffered by convicted appellant by coordinating with the state agency.
Bajaj was among the 17 accused convicted by a PMLA court in Mohali on July 30, 2024. He was awarded five-year jail. After admitting the plea for further hearing, the court had on August 12 stayed the fine and sought response from the ED.
The ED case was linked to infamous Jagdish Bhola drug racket the probe into which was started by the police in 2013. The ED had filed prosecution complaint in 2017.
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