SC dismissed the ED petition against the Chief Secretary of the former MP, others in the e-tending case. Bharat News

Bhopal: A great relief for retired IAS officer and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary M Gopal Reddy, Supreme Court has dismissed a special holiday petition (SLP) filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a challenging Telangana High Court Order that excluded her completely Money laundering Proceeding.This order also gives relief to Mantena Group promoter Ms. Raju, as the case of Ed against Reddy is related to the same Bhopal EV FIR on the basis of allegations of digital manipulation in the e-tendering system of Madhya Pradesh.The apex court said, “We do not find any reason to intervene with the order passed by the High Court. The special holiday petition, accordingly, has been rejected.”The Telangana High Court gave full relief to Reddy and Raju in 2023, abolishing Ed proceedings in response to the petition filed by them in 2021. The court did not get any merit in continuing the investigation, which effectively excluded both from alleged allegations. Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).The ED investigation originated from an FIR registered by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW), Bhopal, accusing them of massive irregularities in the state’s e-tending system. The ED claimed that more than Rs 80,000 crore tenders were manipulated through unauthorized access and misuse of digital signature. Max Mantena led by Ms. Raju was among the companies under investigation.After the FIR, the ED’s Hyderabad unit filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to limit its investigation to Max Mantena and former Chief Secretary. The EOW charged many individuals and institutions with IPC section 120-b (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 471 (forgery), with sections 7 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.Reddy’s lawyer argued that he was nominated only in the final report of the EOV and was not directly accused. All people were acquitted on 23 November 2022 for lack of evidence by a special session court in Bhopal. No appeal was filed against Bari.Reddy’s legal team said that the continuous investigation of the ED was not only baseless, but also violated legal principles, as the matter had already been resolved in court. The Telangana High Court agreed, ruled that the prosecution under the PMLA should be supported by clear physical evidence – not perceptions or guesses.In the respective case, the High Court also quashed the ED proceedings against Max Mantena. Justice M. Lacman noticed that the agency’s actions “misused the process”, adding that doubt, the prosecution could not be justified under the PMLA alone.When computer emergency response team-India (Certificate-in), which assisted EOW in digital forensic, the matter became more weak, he said that no additional evidence could be recovered from the seized data. This inspired the Eow to submit a closed report to the court.Solemn E-tendering scam The first time came to light in 2019 after internal bureaucracy conflicts. The investigation was launched by EOW on the instructions of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan after an interim report by the then director of MP State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSEDC), due to which nine tenders were canceled.