ED is not a ‘super cop’, can’t file private plaint: Karnataka HC
ECONOMY – POLICY
8 NOVEMBER 2026
- Declaring that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is “not a super cop,” the High Court of Karnataka said the agency cannot file a private complaint to initiate a money-laundering probe when the competent agencies decline to prosecute a scheduled offence based on the information filed by the ED.
- The court ruled that the ED’s power under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is “derivative and not original,” and that filing a private complaint under Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was not contemplated under the PMLA Act.
- “One institution in the country does not become supreme so that it is in a position to abuse the powers conferred on it. The ED is not a super cop to investigate anything and everything which comes into its notice,” the court said, adding that the ED must exercise only those powers expressly conferred on it by the PMLA.
- Justice M.I. Arun passed the order while allowing a batch of writ petitions filed by Malur MLA and Congress leader K.Y. Nanjegowda, who also chairs the Kolar and Chikkaballapur Milk Union Ltd. (KOMUL) and the Malur Land Grant Committee, and others.
- The case stemmed from a private complaint about an alleged “land scam” on the basis of which the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in November 2023.
- While probing this, the ED reportedly found evidence of a “job scam” involving KOMUL, and shared its information with the police.
- As they did not act on this information, the ED itself filed a private complaint on this matter.
- The petitioners challenged the ED’s ECIR, the order confirming seizure of articles, summons issued to them, and the private complaint filed by the ED before a special court.
