The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a Madras High Court directive that barred Tamil Nadu Crime Branch from issuing summons to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kesava Vinayagam without the Court's permission in a cash seizure case [State Rep By The Deputy Superintendent of Police, CBCID vs Kesava Vinayagam and anr].
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the investigating agency to serve the Tamil Nadu politician with a one-week advance notice for appearance.
"With a view to balance rights of the investigating agency and the respondent, the last line of impugned order of the High Court to the extent it says ... is set aside," it was ordered.
About ₹4 crore cash had been seized in April this year from three passengers travelling in a train proceeding towards Tirunelveli. The money was suspected to be used for a BJP candidate, who was then contesting the Lok Sabha election.
The High Court in June 6 ordered the Investigating Officer to not disturb Vinayagam any further, unless and until material collected during the investigation warrants his presence.
However, it had further directed that even if his presence was warranted, "the State can be done it only after obtaining permission by placing the material before this Court why the petitioner be summoned."
The directions were challenged by Tamil Nadu government before the apex court, which in July sought the response of the BJP leader.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and advocates Sabarish Subramanian and Aprajita Jamwal appeared for the State government today. Senior Advocate K Parameshwar appeared for Vinayagam.
Sibal today argued that there was no question of arrest or coercive steps in an ordinary investigation in such cases.
In response, Parameshwar said that the case was one of vendetta due to political motivations of the State government.
However, the Court also did not seem to agree to the conditions put in place by the High Court.
"We will say one week notice for summons. You can challenge the notice," it said.
Accordingly, the Court then set aside the restrictions placed by the High Court on issuance of summons to the BJP leader. It added that he would be at liberty to challenge the summons in accordance with the law.