Supreme Court allows ED officer Ankit Tiwari to stay in MP, appear before TN Court via VC

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed bribery-accused Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Ankit Tiwari to appear before the special trial court at Madurai, Tamil Nadu virtually during hearings in the case against him instead of having to attend the trial proceedings physically [Directorate of Enforcement v. State of Tamil Nadu]..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said that Tiwari could stay with his family in Madhya Pradesh or elsewhere and attend the criminal trial before the Tamil Nadu court through video conference. The Court also extended Tiwari's interim bail in the matter..Tiwari was arrested last year by Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) after allegedly having been caught accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakhs but is currently out on interim bail. The top court had earlier stayed the DVAC probe against him as well. His pleas for regular and default bail were listed today before the top court. Tiwari's counsel, Advocate Shivam Singh today pointed out that the probe against Tiwari was over and that he could not influence the trial. The Court proceeded to extend his interim bail.Last month, the Supreme Court had allowed Tiwari to travel to Madhya Pradesh from Tamil Nadu to meet his family. This order was effectively extended today..The Court was also dealing with a related plea by the ED opposing the alleged non-cooperation by the Tamil Nadu government in sharing FIRs related to probes into money-laundering cases in the State.The ED has further prayed that the probe into the bribery case against its Tiwari (currently being probed by Tamil Nadu's DVAC) be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..During today's hearing, the Court orally observed that it may not be ideal to say that State investigation agencies are barred from investigating certain persons only because they are part of a central agency."In a federal system, to say State Police will either always or never have the power (to conduct investigation against officers of a central agency like the ED) is dangerous and not desirable," Justice Kant remarked.Senior Advocate Amit Anand Tiwari appeared for the State of Tamil Nadu and submitted that the matter will need a detailed hearing. He argued that an accused only has the fundamental right to a fair trial, not the choice of agency.Earlier this year, the Court had hinted that guidelines could be evolved to tackle apprehensions of bias by State investigation agencies or "vindictiveness" by central investigating agencies when dealing with such matters.In March, it had suggested that a judicial body could monitor cases in which investigation is sought to be conducted by both State and Central agencies.Advocate Zoheb Hossain appeared for the ED during the hearing today.