Enforcement Officer Ankit Tiwari was allegedly caught red-handed accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a doctor in Dindigul district. File.
| Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan
The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 6, 2026) mulled the transfer of a Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) case of bribery against a Directorate of Enforcement (ED) officer Ankit Tiwari to an independent Central probe agency.
A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, meanwhile, refused to lift the stay on criminal proceedings in the case.
The court was hearing a plea by the ED to transfer the case from the State DVAC to an agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The apex court had stayed the proceedings in the DVAC case in January 2024.
Mr. Tiwari was allegedly caught red-handed accepting a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a doctor in Dindigul district.
The ED, however, argued that the Tamil Nadu DVAC’s proceedings against Mr. Tiwari was an act of revenge by Tamil Nadu against the ED for registering money laundering cases and conducting raids against powerful politicians and former Ministers in the State.
The case against Mr. Tiwari, a Central government employee, ought to be investigated by a Central agency such as the CBI, and not the DVAC, the ED had said.
The Bench, earlier, had also proposed to examine the question whether an offence committed by a Central government employee by misusing his official capacity should be investigated by the CBI or by the State in whose jurisdiction the alleged offence happened.
The apex court had suggested evolving a mechanism to screen whether political vendetta or vindictiveness was not the actual motivating force behind the Centre unleashing the ED on officials and Ministers in Opposition-ruled States, and States retaliating by arresting the Central agency’s local officers.
Published – August 06, 2026 06:04 pm IST
