India • Jun 20, 2025

ED restricts summons to advocates amid SC lawyers controversy

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has changed its rules for calling lawyers in for questioning, following backlash over summoning top advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal.
Now, if the ED wants to break from this new policy, it needs a green light from the agency's director—making sure legal boundaries are respected.

TL;DR

'Datar's summons paused out of respect for lawyer-client confidentiality'

The ED has dropped its summons to Venugopal in a money laundering case linked to Care Health Insurance Ltd (CHIL), which faced trouble for issuing ESOPs without proper approval.
From now on, if they need documents from him, they'll just email.
Meanwhile, Datar's summons is paused out of respect for lawyer-client confidentiality under new evidence laws.