A day after the Supreme Court told the Enforcement Directorate not to create an “atmosphere of fear”, the Congress on Wednesday asked the Narendra Modi-led Central government to pay heed to the court’s remarks.
The Supreme Court had made the remarks on Tuesday after the Congress government in Chhattisgarh alleged that the central agency was “running amok” and trying to implicate Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in a money laundering case, according to The Indian Express.
The Chhattisgarh government had alleged that the Enforcement Directorate was threatening officials of the state excise department and their family members with arrest in an attempt to implicate the chief minister.
On Wednesday, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that Bharatiya Janata Party should stop wasting government resources to harass political rivals on trumped-up charges.
“ED is Enforcement Directorate, not Elimination Department to do away with political opponents,” Ramesh said.
The development comes at a time when the Opposition parties have repeatedly accused the BJP government of using central agencies in an arbitrary manner to arrest their leaders.
In March, 14 Opposition parties moved the Supreme Court against the alleged misuse. They had urged the court to frame pre-arrest guidelines to prevent the misuse of investigative agencies.
However, the court had refused to entertain their petition, saying that politicians cannot claim higher immunity than common citizens.
Also read:
- How the Modi government has weaponised the ED to go after India’s Opposition
- Caged parrot v2: How Modi government has weaponised the CBI to target the Opposition
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