The Bombay High Court has held the arrest of a woman employee of diamantaire Nirav Modi by CBI as “illegal” and directed the agency to pay a fine of ₹50,000 within eight weeks.
This order, passed by a Division Bench of Justice S.J. Kathawalla and Justice Bharati Dangre on May 10, was made available on the HC website on Wednesday. The Bench was hearing a plea by Kavita Manikikar, Modi’s executive assistant.
Her counsel advocate Yash Wardha Tiwari said she was arrested in the evening on February 20, 2018, by the CBI to investigate her role in the multi-crore Punjab National Bank scam.
Mr. Tiwari contended that the agency had flouted rules of criminal procedure by arresting her after sunset and urged for disciplinary action against the erring officers. In a 29-page order, the Bench said “the arrest was illegal and in violation of and utter disregard to Section 46 (4) of the Cr.PC. The CBI is liable for disciplinary proceedings.”
