The Supreme Court Monday said it will hear on January 25 the petition of journalist Rana Ayyub challenging the summons issued to her by a special PMLA court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case lodged by the ED. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justices V Ramasubramanian and J B Pardiwala, posted the matter after senior advocate Vrinda Karat mentioned it. Karat told the court that the Bench which was scheduled to hear the matter Monday was not available, and requested the bench to post the matter for hearing later today at 2 pm. ”We will keep this day after tomorrow before an appropriate bench. Today will be difficult,” the bench said. On January 17, a bench led by CJI Chandrachud had agreed to consider listing the plea of Ayyub for urgent hearing after taking note of the submissions of advocate Vrinda Grover who appeared for her. Grover had said a summons was issued by the special court in Ghaziabad against Ayyub for January 27 and therefore the matter be listed urgently. In her writ petition, Ayyub has sought quashing of the proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate in Ghaziabad citing lack of jurisdiction as the alleged offence of money laundering occurred in Mumbai. On November 29 last year, the special PMLA court in Ghaziabad had taken cognizance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate and summoned Ayyub. The ED chargesheet filed with under section 45 read with section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 for money laundering was filed by Sanjeet Kumar Sahu, Assistant Director of ED, Delhi. ”I have perused the above mentioned prosecution complaint and have also gone through the prosecution papers as well as documents including statements.
About the Author
