New Delhi. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has withdrawn summons issued in connection with the money laundering investigation to senior advocate of Supreme Court Pratap Venugopal. The decision came at a time when the Supreme Court raised a serious objection to the ED to send summons to the senior advocate.

Explain that this case is to Care Health Insurance Limited (CHIL), in which ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan) was issued to employees in the year 2022, which was rejected by IRDAI (IRDAI). In this connection, ED had sent summons to Pratap Venugopal, who was then on the board as an independent director of CHIL.

The agency said that it wanted to understand how the company issued ESOPs despite IRDAI’s rejection and what was discussed in the board.

A delegation of Advocate on Records of the Supreme Court raised the issue before the Supreme Court, citing two cases that the sending summons to the lawyers was becoming a worrying tendency. After this, the Supreme Court clearly expressed displeasure over it.

Following this incident, the ED issued an official statement on 20 June stating that since Pratap Venugopal is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, the summons issued to him has been withdrawn. Also, they have been informed that if they need any document, they will be sought via email.

The ED further stated that it has also issued a circular to ensure compliance with Section 132 of the Evidence of India Act 2023. Under this, summons will not be issued to any lawyer without prior approval of the director, so that the professional freedom and privacy of the advocates can be safe.

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