Approach us if ED tries to arrest you: HC to Vora

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has told Congress veteran Motilal Vora that he can approach it for relief if the Enforcement Directorate tries to arrest him in connection with alleged money laundering in land allotment to Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

The court refused to entertain for now a plea by the 86- year-old national treasurer of the Congress to restrain the agency from arresting him.

It appears that there is no intention of ED to arrest him, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal said yesterday, adding that his prayer for interim relief will not been taken up at this stage.

"In case any attempt is made to arrest him (by ED), he can file an application before the court," the bench observed.

The case would now come up for hearing on July 19.

Vora had been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate after he was summoned in his capacity as the Chairman and Managing Director of the AJL in connection with alleged irregularities in allotment of the plot to the company, which is the publisher of the National Herald newspaper, in Panchkula, Haryana, in 2005.

The agency had, last year, filed a criminal complaint and booked former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, AJL officials and others on charges of alleged money laundering, taking cognisance of a Haryana State Vigilance Bureau FIR.