The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Enforcement Directorate cannot directly arrest a person under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) once a special court takes cognisance of its complaint and the agency will have to approach the court if it wants custody of that person.

The bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, which was hearing Tarsem Lal vs Directorate of Enforcement, Jalandhar Zonal Office, said, “After cognisance is taken of the offence punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA based on a complaint under Section 44, the ED and its officers are powerless to exercise powers under Section 19 to arrest a person shown as accused in the complaint. If the ED wants custody of the accused who appears after service of summons for conducting further investigation in the same offence, ED will have to seek custody of the accused by applying to the special court.”