The Enforcement Directorate “cannot be a law unto itself”, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while granting interim protection to two accused persons in an alleged liquor scam worth Rs 2,000 crore in Chhattisgarh, the Hindustan Times reported.

A bench of Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia directed the Enforcement Directorate and the Uttar Pradesh Police to not take action against Indian Administrative Service officer Anil Tuteja and his son Yash Tuteja in a fresh case in Noida.

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that a syndicate comprising state government officials, politicians and other individuals conspired to ensure that a state-run company would procure liquor only from those who would pay a commission of Rs 75 per case of country liquor. It alleged that the syndicate pocketed more than Rs 2,000 crore, which would have otherwise gone to the state exchequer.

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The Chhattisgarh government, which is among the petitioners in the case, has claimed that the Enforcement Directorate has been conducting the investigation without any jurisdiction and with an aim to implicate Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

On July 18, the Supreme Court stayed the central agency’s probe in the case and stopped it from taking any coercive action against those accused.

However, on July 28, the Uttar Pradesh Police filed a first information report against the father and son after receiving a complaint from the Enforcement Directorate.

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In its complaint, the central agency had told the Uttar Pradesh Police about fake hologram manufacturers in Noida. The agency alleged the company had been illegally granted a tender to supply holograms to the Chhattisgarh excise department, according to the Hindustan Times.

The petitioners alleged that the Enforcement Directorate had reached out to the Uttar Pradesh Police to bypass the Supreme Court’s order. The court will hear the case next on September 26.

Also read: How the Modi government has weaponised the ED to go after India’s Opposition