In a contempt of court petition filed by film producer Aakash Baskaran, an Assistant Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Vikas Kumar, appeared in person before the Madras High Court and tendered an unconditional apology for violating the court’s earlier order. The court accepted the apology and closed the contempt proceedings against him.
The case arose from searches conducted by the ED in connection with alleged irregularities linked to TASMAC. During the operation, the agency searched the premises of Aakash Baskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran and seized certain documents belonging to the film producer.
Aggrieved by the action, Aakash Baskaran approached the Madras High Court challenging the searches and seizure. After hearing the matter, the High Court directed the ED to return the seized documents and restrained the agency from taking any further action against him.
Despite the subsisting interim order, the ED later issued a summons to Aakash Baskaran in connection with the very same documents, prompting him to file a contempt of court petition against the central agency.
When the matter first came up before a Division Bench comprising Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan, the court expressed strong displeasure over the failure of ED Assistant Director Vikas Kumar, Appellate Tribunal Chairman Pradeep Kumar Upadhyaya, and Administrative Registrar Nazrin Siddique to appear in person. The Bench directed all three officials to be present at the next hearing and explain their conduct.
At the subsequent hearing, only Vikas Kumar appeared before the court and offered an unconditional apology. Taking note of the same, the judges closed the contempt proceedings against him.
As court notices had not been served on Pradeep Kumar Upadhyaya and Nazrin Siddique, they were absent. However, observing that Nazrin Siddique was responsible for issuing the summons to Aakash Baskaran in violation of the court’s order, the Bench directed her to appear in person before the court on January 19.