CHENNAI: The principal sessions and special court for cases under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday granted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) three days of custody of film producer and expelled DMK functionary Jaffer Sadiq.
Principal sessions judge S Alli passed the orders on an application filed by the ED, which had actually sought 15 days of custody. She granted three days of custody from July 17 to 19 with riders, allowing relatives to visit him on July 18 and producing him back in court on July 19.
Special public prosecutor N Ramesh, appearing for the ED, submitted that a custodial interrogation is required as Sadiq was ‘evasive’ and ‘non-cooperative’ with the investigators during interrogation at the Tihar jail, where he has been lodged after Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested him for drug smuggling. He informed the court that the agency required his custody to get to the bottom of the generation of the proceeds from his alleged crime.
However, senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajarathinam appearing for Sadiq, contended that custody could not be sought under the grounds of being evasive and non-cooperative. ED was granted permission twice to question him while in Tihar jail and had completed the interrogation. So, it could not seek custody again, he told the court.