By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the central government for not interrogating in custody Hasan Ali and others accused of laundering money abroad.
“We are asking a simple question for a simple answer. Why no custodial interrogation of the people about which you have the information,” Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar asked Solicitor General G. Subramanium.
The court wanted to know who prevented their custodial interrogation.
The judges also flayed the government for changing during the investigation officers probing the money laundering by Ali and the others.
The court demanded that the officers be restored to their original post by the government, failing which it threatened to issue necessary directions.
The judges indicated they might order the custodial interrogation of Ali and the other accused under the supervision of a court-appointed officer.
When Subramanium said that such a situation may not arise, the court observed: “We’ll be happy about it.”
The bench was hearing a petition by Ram Jethmalani seeking direction to the government to take steps to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks by Indian citizens.